There Are Always Others: The Comprehensive Epic
by ExcitingCheese Writer's League
Summary: Spanning the course of many years, this fic chronicles a large group of friends from their early teenaged years to their middle age years, starting with a mission into the Matrix to retrieve a powerful device, leading into the Alien apocalypse of the 5th Wave, and venturing through four plot phases, currently adding to about 760 pages (and not even halfway done).
1. We Learn Information

Author's Note: When you read the first few chapters of this story, all you will do is think to yourself 'This Sucks.' But the multiple authors of this fic have been learning more and more as we have written, and it does nothing but improve as you continue reading. At the moment, one of the authors is going through the story and revising all of the POV issues and most of the grammatical problems, and once you pass Chapter 14, the story becomes good (Chapters 1-14 are kinda trash).

Introduction

"When my father was young, he visited a planetarium. There, he was able to see the many constellations of our galaxy, the Milky Way. He decided then that he would name his daughter Cassiopeia. That's me, and Cassiopeia "Cassie" Sullivan is one of my many names.

I write this introduction in my diary, on April 31st, 2019, in hope that if humanity pulls through this and I don't make it, my legacy can be left behind in the story of the events that take place.

Mysterious aliens, who I call the Others, arrived on November 28th, 2018. They stayed in orbit until the 8th of December, and on the 8th began unleashing catastrophic waves of destruction against us, in order to wipe out humanity. So far, four have hit, and as I lie in my tent at night, I can only pray to God that there won't be a fifth.

The truth is, once they found us, we were toast.

My family has been torn apart, and my father and mother are both dead. My brother is missing, and I promised to come to him. Every night, in my tent, I think in my head, Alone, Cassie, Alone. And that's not the worst nightmare.

Sometimes, I wake in the night clutching my M16 close to my chest. In the apocalypse, guns are the only thing you can trust. At least you know that a gun is a gun.

The hum is gone. The constant drone created by human technology is no more, and all that is here now is a deafening silence. It is so quiet that sounds I never knew existed can be heard.

Sometimes, for instance, I think I can hear the stars scraping against the sky.

I certainly hope that, when someone reads this, I am alive. Just know, reader, that no matter what happens, there will always be Others.

No matter how many we kill, there are always Others.

And there are always us.

-The Last Historian

* * *

 **September 8th, 2018**

Justin woke up with a start. Remembering where he was, he calmed down. Things had been very different ever since he entered the real world. He had barely any hair, the food was bad, but at least he was with friends, Mike and Lena. For his whole life he had lived in a computer world called the Matrix. There, his family was rich, he was popular, and he had all his hair. Why he wanted to come to the real world, was because he wanted a new life. Mike and Lena, came, not because they needed to, but because they wanted to. He was sure though, that if any of them knew what this was like, they would've stayed in the Matrix.

He couldn't stop thinking about who was before him though, why him? After they were rescued, they heard the stories of Neo, the One. He had sacrificed his life for so many, yet the war with the machines was still raging. Agent Smith was gone, but there were still more, and no one knew how to stop them. Justin always imagined himself, fighting alongside Neo, and finding another way to destroy Smith. The fighting had also killed Dozer, Tank, Trinity, Apoc, Switch, Mouse, and a bunch of random people with no names. Mouse was his favorite, he didn't know why really, but he was for some reason.

Justin rolled on his left side to see the clock, which read 4:30 AM. Justin was always the first to get up. He cursed his luck and slid out of the bunk down to the floor. He didn't need to worry about making any noise, thanks to his light frame. Mike was snoring softly on the bunk below him, while Lena you know, just… slept.

He walked up to the oven, to fulfill his first mission: eat. Most of the time, people in Zion ate strange oatmeal-like stuff that tasted really bad, but Justin had managed to smuggle in a package of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. Man, did Justin love Pillsbury products.

He popped it open, and put the rolls on a pan. He set the oven to the correct temperature, and headed to the bathroom to get dressed. He changed out of his sleeping garment into his favorite outfit: a batman t-shirt under a black leather jacket, with jeans and thick woolen socks. He didn't put on shoes, not just yet, because he didn't want to make clumping noises and wake his friends up. Next, he got his hands wet, hot, and soapy and washed his tanned face well. He grabbed a comb, just on instinct, before realizing that his hair was too short to comb. Normally, it would be a thick chocolate mess that kept him warm, but he'd have to live without his natural blanket for a while.

The oven beeped quietly: Justin dried his face quickly and went out to the room. He put on two oven mitts (his worst fear was hot metal) and put the pan of rolls in. He set the oven for the correct amount of time, and sat down to read his favorite book: Divergent.

He read for a while, but the oven went off. He heard Lena and Mike stir from the noise. He quickly opened the oven door and began wolfing down cinnamon rolls as fast as possible, before the others could get them. Greedy.

Lena stretched mechanically, and got up. She gave Justin a look with her brown eyes, like, Why do you have cinnamon rolls? Give me cinnamon rolls. Justin laughed.

"Good morning, Lena," he said. "How you doing?"

"Wonderful," said Lena, "I'm gonna get dressed now. Don't interrupt me."

Lena was new to America when she came to Brooks Elementary. Both of her parents were Japanese, and they had worked at a car dealership. However, her father got a job working in Mega City, Ohio, for Justin's dad. They made friends at school, and Lena was unusually smart and the top student. The trio were often picked on, but Mike usually taught the bullies a lesson.

Mike was unusually tall for his age, and slightly intimidating. He was very caucasian in his appearance, having a thoroughly russian parent. He had thick, wavy golden hair that accented his sharp, blue eyes. He was by no doubt the most muscular member of the team, and yet somehow ate the most treats.

His mother had immigrated from Russia while with child, and Mike's older brother was born a month later. His mother had been divorced, and she remarried an American in Mega City. They had Mike.

Mike was picked on in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade for his slight russian accent and being a weakling. However, when Justin met him, he encouraged Mike to work out and gain the strength he needed to face the bullies. After an "accident" in the hallway, the bullies stopped pestering him.

Mike flopped out of bed in his usual fashion. "Where's Lena?" he said.

"Dressing," said Justin. "Don't bother her."

"Oooh," said Mike, "cinnamon rolls."

"Sorry, chum," said Justin, "they're all mine." He popped the last one in his mouth and chewed luxuriously, whilst making exaggerated noises of pleasure.

"So," said Mike, "you make a pack of cinnamon rolls that could serve four, eat them ALL, and leave your best friends with disgusting tasteless wheat?"

"Sorry, mate," said Justin, "you know what happens between me and Pillsbury."

Mike sighed, and Lena walked out of the bathroom. She was wearing a denim jacket, a shirt that said "Girl Power!", and white jeans.

"White jeans?" said Justin.

"Girl Power?" said Mike.

"Are you saying that girls don't have power?" said Lena.

"I'm saying that most of them have less power than me," said Mike, "and you're one of them."

"Get a shirt that says Mike Power," Lena responded, pouring herself a bowl of tastee wheat. Mike sighed again.

"I'm taking the bathroom," he said, heading in.

Justin walked over to the sink and started washing the cook pan. Lena kept eating her tasteless wheat with a plastic spoon. Justin finished washing, and sat down.

"Excited for training?" said Justin.

"Not really," said Lena. Justin looked surprised.

"Why not?" said Justin.

"I'm training for missions at this point," said Lena. "I always wanted to be an operator. Suits me better. I'm a genius."

Stuck up.

"You've been assigned where we need you Lena," said Justin. "We're the muscle, we just need brains."

Lena finished eating, threw away the spoon, and started washing the bowl. Mike came out of the bathroom, wearing a tan tank top, a red bandana, and a pair of camo pants.

"Dude," said Justin, "you look so stupid!"

Mike looked offended. "I don't need to look smart, we've got Lena for that."

"What do you need me for?" asked Lena from the sink. She was almost finished washing.

"Nothing," said Mike.

"We should probably get our shoes on," said Justin. "It's almost 5:15, which is when the training starts."

"I concur," said Lena, who started putting on a pair of white tennis shoes. Justin grabbed his combat boots, and Mike put on hiking boots. After they were finished, a beep sounded. A little flap opened over everyone's beds, and little tags fell out. Justin ran to his bunk to see what it was.

It was a little rectangular thing that said Singe on it.

"Ah," said Mike. "Our new names."

"Who are you?" Lena asked.

"Macho," said Mike. Lena burst out laughing.

"I don't care what they call you," said Justin, "you'll always be Mike to me."

"I agree," said Mike. Another beep sounded over the door, and a piece of paper fell out. Lena ran to it, and Justin dropped out of his bunk.

It was a schedule, showing their daily routine for the next three months, as well as showing the preparatory operations they would go through before training began. Apparently, their instructor was Vice President Zhantov. Sad. Justin hoped it would be President Morpheus.

"Zhantov?" said Mike.

"I've seen pictures of him," said Lena. "He's a skinny redhead who plays Geometry Dash. His internet alias is MiGhosti."

"Ah," said Justin.

"The first thing on our preparatory operations list is Meet Your Teacher," said Mike.

"Followed by Weapon Selection, then Meet Your Course, then Selective Testing," said Lena.

"Okay, my friends," said Justin. "This is gonna be fun."

A knock sounded at the door.

Mike

Mike had always been best friends with Justin. Since 2nd grade, all the way until now, they had the best of times. Lena often had tagged along. She came to Brooks Elementary in 4th grade. Everyone was jealous of her because she was the smartest kid in the class. Mike and Justin took advantage of that and let her teach them. They rode bikes, had sleepovers, watched movies, played video games and (obviously) went to school together. Justin's house was amazing. His dad was rich, so he lived in a huge house. Once they got the whole class together and played tag and hide and go seek there. But, as it seemed, all that was fake. But it seemed so real. Morpheus had told them earlier that what they lived in was the Matrix. Mike was all fascinated, mostly with Neo. Neo had saved Zion twice, and Mike wanted to be just like him. He wanted to be popular and have everybody like him, he wanted to be the hero. He felt though that he was too late in the game for that. Once, Mike had thought that whatever the challenge, he could push through. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Lena

Lena was always the smart girl. Everyone thought she liked being the best, but she really didn't. Her Mom and Dad made her study all the time, that's why she wanted to get out of the Matrix, so she could get away from all of that. And, it turns out, she never had any parents, according to Morpheus. There was one good thing about living in the Matrix, Justin and Mike. They were her best, and mainly only friends. Whenever her Family came over to visit, they would always quiz her on any question they could come up with. Eventually, she would just get some food, run up to her room, and barricade the door. At least for her, she lived a bad life. The only good memories of the Matrix were spending time with Justin and Mike. But even they only knew half of what she felt like. She had never shared all her feelings with them.

To her parent's credit, Lena was probably smarter than the average West Point student, and that was because the pushed her. She had an IQ of 176, and her only good moment with her parents was when they threw her "176 Party", and she had Justin, Mike, and their families over for cake, ice cream, and fun.

She still couldn't help hating her parents as she walked to training, accompanied by her best friends and the wiry Zhantov. He rarely spoke at that time, except to tell them to be quiet, or to advise them on not getting hurt in class. He asked Lena her IQ, and she responded with 176. Zhantov looked surprised, and said that they were exactly equal.

Lena was lost in thought throughout all of Meet Your Teacher. Mostly, she just caught Zhantov looking happy. Next was weapon selection.

Mike grabbed a heavy M60, and slung it over his shoulder. He also grabbed a few random guns for backup. Both Lena and Justin immediately started criticising him over the thing's size. Justin grabbed two shotguns, two TAC-45s, and some other guns that Lena wasn't paying attention to. Lena didn't plan to do much shooting, so she didn't pay attention to her weapon selection.

Next was Meet Your Course, in which the three were familiarized with what would take place during training. For three months, they would go by a seven day schedule, doing different things every day. Sunday would be a day off, Monday would be physical fitness, Tuesday would be weapons training, Wednesday would be more physical fitness, Thursday would be martial arts and hand-to-hand, Friday would be MORE physical fitness, and Saturday would be education.

Finally, there was Selective Testing. This was Lena's favorite part, because it was so easy. Essentially, they were each assigned a fifth grade math test to complete in five minutes. Lena did it in two, and Justin and Mike just barely scraped it. Justin did it in four minutes and fifteen seconds, while Mike did it in four minutes and thirty.

The next three months were some of the fastest days in Lena's life. Four-thirty every morning. Eleven o'clock every night (except Sundays). Lena found martial arts to be her weakest class, while education was her strongest (of course). She, as well as Justin and Mike, learned the best way to defeat agents: don't. They also learned how to manipulate the Matrix by force of will, and to use a single highly specialized power that would be unlocked at some point. In addition to Matrix Studies, they also worked on advanced calculus, deductive reasoning, and process of elimination.

At the end of the three months, President Morpheus came personally to assign the first mission.

The Mission (Justin)

"The three of you are just recruits," said Morpheus, "fledglings in chief. But we, for some stupid reason, have chosen to give one of the most difficult, and most important, assignments."

"Yes sir!" said the three in unison.

"You'll be sent into the Matrix to get a device called the Changer, which will allow us to make changes in the Matrix," said Morpheus. "Without force of will. If we get it, we will have the upper hand."

"Sir, yes sir!" three said again.

"Are you ready?" Morpheus asked.

"Ready." said the three in unison. And suddenly, they were transported to the Matrix. They stood in front of the Pierce Tower, a famous structure throughout the Matrix. Justin had always wanted to come here, and now here he was.

"Remember, Justin said, "do not engage an agent." Lena and Mike nodded, like they understood.

"Alright, let's do this."

They walked in, expecting a lot of guards and soldiers, when all they found was normal people walking.

"Act casually," Lena ordered. They got to the elevator, and decided to take different floors. Justin wasn't far when he spotted an agent. Over his communication system, he told Mike and Lena, "I've spotted an agent, surrounded by soldiers."

"Do not engage," Lena ordered.

"Yeah," replied Mike, "we wouldn't want you dead."

"Be quiet Macho!" Justin and Lena quietly laughed.

"Justin, wait for backup, said Lena.

"But what if they have the Changer?"

"It doesn't matter," Justin, who was very stressed at the moment, had to make a quick decision, and the agent and soldiers were getting closer.

Finally, he grabbed his two shotguns out of his crate and lit them up. They didn't have time to dodge these. The Agent fell, but a few men started firing. Justin ducked for cover. Meanwhile, one floor below, were Mike and Lena.

"Just one more floor," Mike said. "God I hope he knows what he's doing."

Truth be told, Justin had no clue what he doing. Justin got up again though and fired more. It was a great shootout, just as he ran out of ammo, Mike yelled behind him, "Get down!" Justin didn't hesitate he dropped, quick enough to confuse the soldiers. It was the right amount of time for Mike to fire off his M-60, and every soldier left alive fell. "Thanks guys," replied Justin.

"Don't ever do that again, we were ordered to not engage if we came across an agent!" yelled Lena.

"But I killed him, he's gone, for now at least," Justin huffed.

"Let's keep looking for the Changer thing," Mike chimed in. They kept running and dodging soldiers and agents, there was no time for play.

"There!" Shouted Mike. They ran over to the computer. "It needs time to install the info."

"We'll give you time," replied Justin and he armed his guns.

Just as he said it, agents and soldiers rounded the bend. Mike fired his M-60 as Justin shot his Tac-45s. All of a sudden, Mike, again, was hit in the arm. "Ugg," He groaned and Justin took him under his arm.

"Lena!" Justin asked, "how much longer?"

"Eighty percent, it should take only another minute…" Just as she finished speaking, a soldier run up and hit her over the head with a baton.

"NO!" Justin screamed. Then he was shot in the torso multiple times before falling. "No," he said, "no, I can't be down, I'm not done." As soon as he said it, he felt a surge of power, and grabbed the M-60. Immediately, he started blowing them away (woah there scout that doesn't sound right at all).

Two of the agents ducked behind a wall, and Justin ran over to finish them off. His gun was too fast for them. Morpheus had told them that they could have powers, his was the ability to stay alive while being shot, as long as he believed.

He grabbed Lena and Mike: Lena didn't look too bad, but she was definitely in pain. Mike stood up, seeming to ignore the pain of his wound. The Changer was finished, and Justin pocketed it.

"How the [censored] did you do that?" Mike asked.

"I kept on believing, in my mind, that I was alive, even though I should have been dead."

"You did great Singe," Lena said, with a smile on her face. Justin liked to see her smile, after the hard life they had. They got out of the building, into a car, and drove south. Suddenly, a rocket blew the car up, sending, Mike, Lena, and Justin flying out.

"Holy [censored]," said Lena.

"Watch your mouth," said Justin as he sprawled on the ground.

"Come on," Mike said, and they ran towards a high school.

* * *

Cassie Sullivan

It was Friday, the last day of school before Christmas Break. Hooray! Unfortunately, the day was a lot worse than expected.

The Mothership had been in the sky for ten days. That is, since two Wednesdays ago. Of course, the world went crazy, setting Cassie Sullivan along the path to escape from a Matrix that she didn't know existed. And this craziness is recorded in a diary.

It is probably the last remaining record of humanity, and can probably go into the history books someday.

She was in English class on Friday and was poking around on her phone like a true sixteen-year-old, when some REALLY weird things happened. There was an explosion outside, and she looked out the window at three kids tumbling out of a car. The kids got up and started running towards the school.

Then, a voice came on the intercom. "We have three unknown civilians on campus. They are armed with deadly weapons. Please stay in your classrooms. This is a lockdown."

Utter panic ensued, with kids leaping out of windows to escape. Cassie's friend Lizbeth and her stayed slightly calmer than the rest of the class, instead heading to the backpack area and burying themselves. Cassie heard the teacher trying to restore order, when her voice was cut off. Cassie peeked out from under the packs to see what she had done.

Standing there was a man wearing a grey suit. His brown hair was immaculately combed to the side, and he was wearing black shades. He took one look at Cassie and pulled out a pistol.

"Stay down," he said.

"Never," said a voice. Suddenly, one of the three kids jumped on him. But he was easily thrown off and smashed into the wall.

"Ha ha ha, Mike French," he said.

"Agent Oscar," replied the kid, whose name was apparently Mike.

"You can't kill me, you are only a boy," said the tux guy.

"My Punches will send you to the moon!" the boy ran to him and gave a terrific punch. The man sailed out of the school and through several buildings. "Yes whoo hoo!" the boy cheered said. He started doing a dance when a girl yelled his name far across the hall. "I'm on my way!" he replied" and just like that, he was out the door.

Cassie decided that she was better off not coming out. "Cassie, what was that?" Lizbeth said shakily.

"Why the [censored] are you asking me?"

End of Chapter One


	2. Someone Turned Off The Lights

**Morpheus**

"What are they doing?!" Morpheus muttered. First, they disobeyed his orders and engaged agents. Second, they totally attracted the authorities by shooting up a high school. Lastly, they didn't shoot those girls under the backpacks! They could've turned into agents at any second. Sigh.

"Zhantov, send some people in there to save them," Morpheus said.

"Out of the question," Zhantov said.

"Why?" asked Morpheus.

"Look," said Zhantov. Morpheus took a look at the holomap of the land around Zion, only to see a huge swarm of robots approaching. _Oh…_ thought Morpheus.

" What are you waiting for, Zhantov? Mobilize the defenses!" Morpheus yelled.

"Right away sir, right away!" said Zhantov, turning to his controls and barking orders into a mic. Meanwhile, Morpheus was mobilizing himself down to the armory, as quickly as he could. However, this errand was complicated by the bullet wound he had received to his leg recently. _If there's a God,_ he thought to himself, _may he levy all his curses upon bullets._ Suddenly his leg began to hurt even more.

Finally, after intense agony, he made it to the armory. He reached out to grab a gun, but decided against it cos he thought bullets were cursed. He grabbed a battleaxe instead. Directly afterward, he contacted the trio of children who were in the matrix.

"YOU GUYS ARE ALL IDIOTS!" he yelled.

"We're trying to focus!" Mike replied angrily.

"What did we do?" Justin asked. Morpheus could hear gunfire coming from his general vicinity.

"You pointlessly risked your lives in engaging agents, you revealed your Matrix power, which was supposed to be secret…"

"You never told me it was secret!" Mike protested

"And Mike didn't shoot the two girls under the backpacks who would've turned into agents!"

"Um… I'll get back to you about that."

Morpheus sighed. "I'm coming to save you, okay?"

"We don't need to be saved," Lena said.

"Look out!" Justin yelled

"That's it, I'm going," stated Morpheus.

* * *

 **Mike's POV**

Mike had little time to think as he ran towards Lena. He heard her scream, then blam, off like a rocket he shot. He also heroically saved twenty kids, like he'd always wanted to. As he got there he could see Lena, with a bloody face and tattered jacket and shirt. Justin was guarding her and got shot in the chest with the Desert Eagle.

"Justin!" He yelled.

"I'm alright," he responded. He got up, and tried to fire his TAC-45s at the agent, but he just dodged them like they were nothing. Then, Mike ran, lifted the agent up, and tossed him up into the ceiling. When he came down, all it took was a bullet shot from Justin.

"Thanks Mike," Justin said.

"No problem man, you definitely needed me, Singe." Then, Mike was pistol whipped over the head several times.

"Mr. French," said the agent, standing over Mike, "you've made me and the others very angry, and now you must-"

But his voice was cut off as a dark stain started spreading on his shirt. He toppled over to reveal Morpheus. He bent down and pulled the thrown axe out of the Agent's back.

"Looks like you guys do need saving after all," he said.

* * *

 **Cassie Sullivan**

Lizbeth and Cassie slipped off the backpacks and proceeded to head to the windows. Unfortunately, military had established a perimeter outside.

"I don't wanna go through that," said Lizbeth.

"Neither do I. Let's take the usual exit."

They peeled off down a corridor, taking a left, a right, and another right. Then, they went toward the parking lot door. Unfortunately, the door had been turned into bricks.

"Ummm… Lizbeth?" Cassie said.

"Ummm… what?" she responded.

In unison, the both of them turned around and headed the other way as fast as they could. A few more gunshots rang out through the school. That's when they found it.

'Twas the body of another tux guy, with a red slash in it's back. Cassie picked up the guy's gun and continued on. They were headed for the cafeteria, where there was a side door. Sadly, as they approached the cafeteria, the gunshots got louder.

"Should we go a different way?" Cassie asked.

"The only other safe way out is through the roof, and it's probably not safe either."

"Well then, to the cafeteria."

 **Morpheus**

"Morpheus, why do you have an axe?" asked Lena. Sensible girl.

"Cos bullets are cursed," Morpheus responded.

"They are? Who cursed them?" asked Justin.

"Long story. How are we going to get out of here?" Morpheus asked.

"Well, how did you get in here?" asked Lena.

"I used a payphone on the street."

"Well then, that's how we're going to get out," said Lena. She took the lead, jogging out of the lunch room. The others followed behind. Suddenly, two teenage girls came running round the corner, crashing into the gathering.

One of them shrieked with panic and dropped down to the floor. The other one simply backed up and raised her hands.

"Um, hello," said Lena.

"Goodbye," said the non-panicky girl, who turned and walked away. The other girl got up and hightailed it out of there.

"Wha- why didn't you guys shoot them?" Morpheus asked.

"Cos they're just kids trying to live life. We shoot agents possessing people because it will save our lives. We shoot people when they shoot at us," said Justin.

"Uh, guys, don't you remember our objective? Getting out of here," Mike said

"Right," responded Lena.

"Ya," said Morpheus, "to get out of here."

"That's what I just said!" Mike announced. Suddenly, Morpheus fell down. Three agents, the ones they took down, were standing behind them, guns loaded.

"You guys shouldn't have come back,"Justin said.

"Oh," said one, "you thought yourself, a child, could win the war single handedly."

That was when all the lights turned off.

"Wow. Just when things couldn't get any worse, we have a power outage," said Justin.

"Now what?" Lena asked.

"You die!" said an agent.

"Run! Get to the chopper!" Mike yelled.

"Where, we can't see!"

"We have the Changer!" Morpheus yelled.

"Right," Mike said, "run into another room."

Out of habit, Justin flipped the light switch, but it didn't work.

"Well, that's wonderful."

 **Cassie**

And then, the lights went out. Immediately following that, Cassie tripped and fell. Both her and Lizbeth landed in a clump of girls.

"OMG! OMG! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! THE ALIENS ARE GONNA KILL US!" yelled Lizbeth in her usual panicky manner.

Very calmly, and with an icy deadliness, Cassie said "Lizbeth, get the [censored] off me, and let's figure out how to get out of here. The aliens are hopefully not going to kill us."

The two of them worked to extricate themselves from one another, then they stood up in the pitch blackness. Cassie could hear voices of children, somewhere.

"Let's head to the voices. Maybe they have light," Cassie suggested.

"No. That's stupid," Lizbeth responded. "They will kill us to pieces."

"No, they won't, cos they didn't last time," Cassie responded.

 **Lena**

It was hard to reach some kind of phone, with pulling Morpheus along. They eventually got there, but Lena was deep in thought while getting there. It wasn't fair how Mike and Justin had powers, but not her. All she could do is get beat up by an agent, then have to be rescued. She felt useless. What made her even more frustrated, was how the power was out so they couldn't use the Changer.

"Lena, you in there?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good, look, a telephone, not far off."

"Hey, Mike said, we're going to make it through this." When they reached the phone, they let Morpheus go first. Morpheus held the phone in his hand, as it was useless, due to the power outage. Then, he removed a wire from his pocket: it was sparking feebly. Holding it against the phone, he put it to his ear, and vanished. Then, when Lena was about to use it, bullets shot through the wall. Lena dodged them quick enough, but Justin and Mike were not so lucky. She wouldn't worry about Justin, but Mike couldn't keep himself alive. She filled with anger and used every weapon she had to fire on the soldiers. There was a lot of shooting, running and ducking but the soldiers all died. She ran over to Mike as soon as the last man fell.

"Mike?" she asked. Justin looked up at her with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"He's gone." Justin said sorrowfully.

"No," Lena said, "I can't believe it, I can't, oh Mike," she cried, kneeling over his broken body. She stretched out and placed a hand to his face. Almost immediately, she felt a strange warmth rushing through from her head to her hands, and Mike regained consciousness with a gasp.

"What…. What… how?" Justin said in surprise.

"How long have I been out?" Mike asked frantically.

"Not long," Justin replied. "The bullets must have just knocked you out."

Lena didn't bother to enlighten him to the fact that he had died.

"Alright," Mike said, getting up. "Let's use the phone."

Lena put it to her ear: nothing happened.

"What the [censored]..." she said. She hung up, and put it back to her ear. That's when she noticed the cord, which had been ripped from the phone by the storm of bullets.

They were trapped in the Matrix, alone and afraid.

 **End of Chapter 2**


	3. We Met Cassie Weeee!

**Justin**

"Oh no…" he said. "Are we stuck?" No, they couldn't be stuck. No way Jose.

"I think we're stuck," said Mike. No. Not cool.

"Well that's [censored] ridiculous. We need to hightail it out of here like a bat out of [censored]," he said.

"And you tell ME to watch my language," muttered Lena.

"Stop bickering," said Mike, "we need a plan."

"That's MY job, silly," responded Lena. "Your job is to shoot people. My job is to come up with how we shoot people."

"I see…"

"Alright," Lena said again. "The plan is to find some high schoolers and round them up. They tell us what's going on here, and how we get out of here."

"So we go hunting?" Justin asked.

"Exactly."

* * *

 **Cassie**

Cassie and Lizbeth made good headway to the voices, given that they'd walked through this hallway about a thousand times. They knew that the voices were somewhere around the computer lab, and the two friends tracked them by their voices.

Then, the voices began moving. They seemed to be splitting up.

"Why must they split up?" Lizbeth asked after walking round for say, twenty minutes trying to find them.

"Maybe we should split up and cover more ground," Cassie suggested.

And that's just what they did, unfortunately. Cassie made good time, traveling around and trying to find my group, when she heard the familiar scream of her best friend.

"LIZBETH!" Cassie yelled, running straight around the corner. That's when she saw another tux guy, pinning Lizbeth to the ground. Cassie watched helplessly as the guy punched one, no two, no three bullets into her spine. Then Cassie fainted.

* * *

 **Mike**

A familiar scream sounded. Another scream, screaming a name. Bang, bang, bang! Three gunshots. One scream.

He ran towards the sound. His eyes had long since adjusted to the dark, and he could navigate fairly well. On the way, he met up with Justin.

They stumbled into an intersection to see an agent standing over the body of a single dead girl. In fact, it was the panicky one they met earlier.

The agent wasn't expecting them: they took him by surprise. Justin and Mike unloaded their last bullets too soon for him to dodge. He was dead in an instant.

"Look," said Justin. He pointed to another body, the more pragmatic girl. She was breathing faintly.

"There's our guide," he said. Mike nodded, ran over, and picked her up like nothing. He swung her over his shoulder and unsheathed his secondary weapon, a MAC-10.

They ran back down the hallway to their predetermined meeting point; Lena was already there, panting. She nodded at them and our catch.

"LOOK!" Justin yelled. "A DOOR! AN EXIT! ONE THAT ISN'T BLOCKED OFF WITH BRICKS!"

He ran to the aforementioned door and started kissing it, and caressing it. "I promise to never fall in love or marry, my door," said Justin, "except you. Oh, my lovely door…" Justin continued to stroke the door and coo at it.

"Umm, Justin?" Lena asked, "could you perhaps OPEN the door?"

"Right, right, forgot about that," Justin dusted himself off, attempting to regain some of his lost reputation. He opened the door and stepped outside. Then, we saw something shrieking down from the sky. It was an airplane! Cutting the power made airplanes useless, he guessed. It crashed to the ground a little ways from the school and exploded in a flash of red light. He was surprised that the explosion didn't wake up the guide. Must be in shock, about her friend.

"Well, it's a good thing we weren't standing there when that thing hit home plate," said Justin.

"Come on, let's see if there's any wounded," suggested Lena.

Mike set down the guide, and the group ran over to the airplane. Immediately upon arrival, they could already tell that there would be no survivors. Lena sighed, and they returned to the door of Justin's dreams.

"Now what do we do?" Justin asked.

"I don't know," responded Mike, "Lena, you're the smart one."

"Alright, we should wake this girl up and see if she knows what's going on," Lena said. Mike tickled her so much that when she woke up, she hit him.

"Ow!" Mike complained, "I would rather you yell at me or something, girl!"

"My name is not 'girl', it's Cassie,"

"Well then, Cassie, what's going on, why is there no power?" Justin inquired. "Well, isn't it obvious?" she said. "It's gotta be the aliens!"

"Aliens?" asked Lena.

"Uh, ya. You guys must be stupid if you don't know."

She pointed to the sky. Justin, Lena and Mike looked up to see a floating green eye in the sky.

"Those aliens."

"Wait, there are aliens?" Justin asked.

"Ya, the Others," Cassie said, rolling her eyes. "They've been here for the past ten days. And what happened to Lizbeth?"

Mike, Justin, and Lena looked guilty.

Cassie stood up, took a deep breath, and exhaled, clearly composing herself.

"Alright…. now, I have questions for you," Cassie stated.

"Okay," Mike said, "Shoot."

"Who are you guys, who are the men in nice jackets, why can you throw guys really far, and not die when shot?"

"That's a mouthful," Lena said. "About who we are it's a long story, and rather hard for you to understand. We need to find somewhere safe before we tell you."

"Okay. I know the perfect place," says Cassie.

"What is the perfect place?" asked Justin.

"My house. First, Mike kid, get rid of that [censored] M60," Cassie said.

"Uh, we all have guns too, you know," replied Justin.

"Yes, I know that," she said. "In fact, we really need guns as an alien apocalypse is inbound. The M60 is a bit extreme, and we need stealth. Get rid of it."

"Told you it was to big," Justin added.

_ The group took the back roads. If only they had cars, they could've gone like faster. Unfortunately, the cars were all powered down.

When they arrived at her house, Cassie opened the door and went in. Her father, her mother, and her young brother Sammy came running out to greet her..

"Whew!" said Cassie's mother. "You're safe. Wait… who are they?"

"Terrorists," said Cassie, "but useful ones. I hope you won't mind if I welcome them to live here for a bit."

"Terrorists? Why are we terrorists?" asked Mike.

"Cos. Please stay here."

"What? Why are you inviting these people into my house?" said Cassie's father.

"They can protect us from the Others," Cassie replied.

That's when a strange expression passed over Mr. Sullivan's face. He pointed at Lena.

"You are…. I know you….." he said, massaging his temples. "But…. no, never mind."

He turned to his wife. "They stay."

"Oliver… is everything alright?" Mrs. Sullivan asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Yes, yes, it's all fine," Mr. Sullivan replied. "Do as you please."

The four teens headed up the stairs.

"What was _that_ all about?" Mike asked.

"I'm not sure," Cassie replied. "Probably nothing to worry about…"

They all went into Cassie's room and the answers begin

"Now," Justin said, "where we come from, everything as you know about the world is gone."

"How?" Cassie asked. "The world isn't gone right now.

"That's because, we aren't from this time, we, are from the future," Justin explained.

"But, time travel is impossible," Cassie protested.

"We aren't necessarily from the future, or the past, but the now present," Justin explained.

"This is so confusing, how are you from the future, yet the present?" Cassie asked.

"Mike, Lena, and I all live in, how should I say it, a real world," said Justin.

"Well, if that's true, where I am," Cassie responded.

"You," he explained, "and all the other people in the world you know, live in what we call the Matrix."

"What the [censored] is that?" Cassie asked.

"The Matrix is a simulated life, lived in a computer, made for the humans, who are used as batteries for the machines."

"No, I don't believe it, I won't!" protested Cassie.

"As Morpheus said himself, I didn't say it would be easy," stated Justin

"But he set us free," said Mike and Lena in unison.

"Jinks," said Mike, "you owe me a soda, Dr. Pepper."

"Sorry, we don't have Doctor Peppers here," Cassie said. "I'm going to call the police." Cassie grabbed a phone, and, when remembering that the power was out, she cursed and threw the phone on the ground.

"That does it!" she walked out of the room.

The gang stood there for about three seconds. "Well that was rude!" said Mike.

"Well, I think we oughta make ourselves unwanted guests, cos where else will we go?" said Lena.

The boys began building nests out of blankets, to sleep in. Lena just got in bed.

"I just thought of something," Mike said, "wouldn't Cassie be the perfect opportunity for an Agent to kill us? What if Morpheus was right, what is we need to kill her, or at least run away."

"Uh oh…" said Lena. "Mike is right. We need to kill the family."

"Isn't that taking it one step too far?" asked Justin

"No, it is taking it one step too short," said Mike. "We need to kill all the people nearby."

"Exactly," Lena assured him, "I'll take the Mom and Dad, Mike, take Cassie, and Justin, take her brother."

"I don't know," Justin questioned "This feels so wrong, like we actually are killing off a life."

"We pretty much are. I mean, they live fake lives here, but they live real lives in pods. We could free them," said Mike.

"That's not how it works though, remember?" Lena said. "If we get shot and die here, we die in the real world."

"I don't know what that has to do with anything I just said," Justin protested. "It doesn't matter how we die, we still die. I'M saying that we give them all the red pill. I get the feeling that if we did that, they would be free and Agents couldn't possess them."

"But how would they get to the pods?" asked Lena.

"They wouldn't. There isn't any power. They wouldn't get any abilities, but Agents couldn't take over. Once power is restored, THEN they would go to their little pods," said Mike.

"I see…" said Lena. "Unfortunately, we are lacking in the red pill department."

"Um, point taken," said Mike.

"Well guys, I've got a simple solution to that issue," said Justin. "We get a red pill."

Just then, thumping sounds from the staircase approached. Lena jumped up quickly, locking the door. _Knock knock._

"Hello in there," came Cassie's voice. "Open up." Lena just shrugged and sat down. She noticed an amazing book she'd always heard of in the Matrix, but her "parents" never let her read it cos violence. Meanwhile, Mike was nested and attempting to fall asleep. Justin, however, just sat there watching the door with his gun ready.

"Let me in or I'm going to bust down the door," said Cassie.

"Just try," Justin said.

There was silence for a second, before a thump sounded from the other side of the door. He could vaguely hear someone cursing profusely. He laughed quietly to himself before falling to sleep.

 **End of Chapter Three**


	4. Food, Water, Weapons What Else?

**Lena**

Rays of sunlight lashed into the room like an alarm clock, waking Lena up from her sleep. She had fallen asleep reading, despite Cassie's attempts to force entry into the locked room.

It appeared to be late morning, maybe nine o'clock. The boys were still sleeping like babies. Lena realised how thirsty she was: and then came the revelation.

 _They're gonna cut off our water,_ she thought to herself, _we'll thirst to death!_

Dangit.

Lena got up and woke the boys. She told them what she had discovered.

"She's right! We'll have to go out the window," said Mike.

"No, we can't do that either. We'll be lost in a world of agents and aliens with no guide," said Justin. "We'll have to open up and hope for the best."

Mike sighed and opened the door. Right away, he was tackled by Cassie's father.

Mike shrugged it off like nothing: he raised the father over his head, then dropped him into the ground. His breath was knocked out of him.

"Don't do that again," said Mike.

"Deal," the father said as best as he could with no breath.

Mike released him and went down the stairway. Lena and Justin followed to find Cassie and Sammy gorging themselves on Frosted Flakes. Cassie looked up and gave them a glare.

"Why did you lock yourselves away last night?" asked Cassie.

"Because you wanted to call the police," said Mike.

The gang went out to the living room real quick.

"I've been thinking," said Justin. "If the agents can just possess anyone at will and kill us all, why haven't they already possessed Cassie and her family?"

"Good question," said Mike. "Definitely one we'll need to think about. Lena, activate genius mode!"

"Genius mode? Never mind." Lena racked her brain for possibilities, quickly eliminating the improbable, until she came up with the best answer.

"Aliens shutting down the power should have destroyed the matrix, since it runs on the power it creates. It does so in order to save the Machine's energy," Lena said. "However, I believe that the Matrix now exists partially in reality rather than a simulation. The machines did not want to lose their source of power, so they began to transform the Matrix. Rather than awakening from their sleep in their real bodies, all the humans now have two bodies. A body is destroyed with the taking of the red pill and the human consciousness takes over the other body."

"And _how_ did you figure all of this out?" Mike asked skeptically.

"I guessed, based on the temparature I'm observing in the air," Lena replied.

She gave this time to sink in before moving to her next phase. "The Machines, while still getting power from this simulation, lose control of what occurs. The Agents remain in the Matrix, but in a weakened state. I think that when the power went off, the Agents lost their ability to jump from body to body. Instead, they are trapped in the bodies that they were in when the power went off."

A look of realization materialized on Justin's face. "That must be it!"

Lena wasn't done yet though. "Seeing as power is required to use the device and transport people from body to body, the red pills would be useless when used on them."

Mike was getting it now. "So, Cassie and her family are safe?"

"Yes, for now."

Justin looked puzzled. "What happens when we kill an Agent? Where does it go?"

"I think that when we kill an agent, it is deleted from the matrix until power is restored in the general area of their death." Lena said. "Agents are bound to be more careful when stalking prey now that their lives are on the line."

"This is good news," Mike said. "Now, we can interact with the people of the land more easily."

"Exactly," Lena said.

 **Cassie Sullivan**

Who knows what they were talking about in the living room. Cassie and her brother decided not to disturb them, as they both believed that they were crazy. However, they came back, amiable as ever, and looking very relieved.

"Why do you guys look like you just had a light bulb moment?" Sammy asked.

"Cos we just did," said Justin.

Then, the dad in question walked in. He looked frightened,

"Don't worry," said Mike, "I won't body slam you again."

"Oh," the dad looked relieved.

"You body slammed him?" asked Sammy with a look of excitement in his eyes.

"Never mind."

"Dad, these are my new friends," Cassie said. "I think their names are Justin, Lena and Mike. Get to know them cos they're staying with us."

"Ya, okay," said the dad. "We are the Sullivan family. As there is an alien apocalypse inbound, we would like to ask you to stay with us and help out."

"Sure," said Mike and Justin at the same time.

"Jinx, _I_ get that Dr. Pepper now," said Justin.

"[censored]," said Mike.

"Anyways," said the dad, "if you stay with us, you'll have to help out and get stuff done that needs to be done."

"Sure," said Lena.

"Great!" said the dad. "As we don't have water, we need to collect some from the lake! One of you guys can go with Cassie down there, while the rest of you get ready for another awesome job!"

"Cheers," said Mike. "I'll do it."

"No, I'll do it!" said Justin with particular quickness.

"Ok, fine."

And so, they set off to the lake.

 **Justin**

Justin followed Cassie the best he could. They walked through the streets of Mega City, eventually reaching the edge. They walked through a forest, finally arriving at the lake.

"Well, here we are," Cassie said, "get out the water tanks and pales and let's get to collecting!"

They had brought along a cart full of water containers. Justin and Cassie began filling up as fast as they could. They were about halfway done when the bad thing happened.

Cassie dropped the water can she was filling and pointed. "JUSTIN! LOOK!" she yelled.

The lake was rippling and small waves were breaking on the surface.

"Um, I don't think lakes are supposed to have waves…." Justin said.

"Run."

Justin and Cassie grabbed the handles of the cart and ran. Behind them, the lake was swelling up to form a huge wave; Justin guessed it was about fifty feet high. And now, it was chasing them.

"CASSIE, RUN FASTER!" Justin yelled. Cassie was already pretty tired out from lugging the heavy thing, yet she managed to push onward.

However, they were too slow.

The wave caught up with them, knocking them off their feet. Justin was plunged down under the water, constantly knocked around by the wave. He survived on willpower alone.

He could barely make out Cassie close by. She looked nearly dead from the extreme force of water knocking her about. Justin released his grip on the cart, allowing it to wash out into the lake; he took Cassie's hand, pulling him close to her. The grip helped, and Justin's body was able to divert some of the power of the wave from Cassie.

Finally, the two were deposited on the ground near the lake. Justin was winded, but mostly unhurt: his belief in his still living managed to preserve him- barely. Cassie was unconscious, understandably; Justin had just managed to save her life.

Justin lay there on the shore, painting. He was exhausted: exercising so much belief had taken him down several notches. Eventually, he raised his head.

Everything was different: the trees were fallen in many places and most of the land was desecrated. He and Cassie were lying about three hundred feet from the shore, and Justin could just make out the water cart in the middle of the lake.

 _Great,_ he thought to himself, _Now I need to swim._

He let himself rest for a few more minutes until he managed to recover some strength. He pulled himself to his feet and began to walk shakily toward the shore. Justin pulled off his shirt and jumped into the water.

Cold struck him like a bullet, sapping all the strength from his body. He immediately swam out as fast as he could, but the damage was done.

 _Awesome, now I'll get hypothermia._

But he needed to swim. He crawled into the water slowly, this time, to give himself time to adjust. Eventually, Justin was waist deep and freezing his [censored] off. He kept going into the water, and finally adjusted.

 _Alright, Justin, now swim._

It wasn't a difficult swim at all after getting adjusted. He easily swam: he was a Boy Scout when he was in the Matrix, and had learned exceedingly excellent swimming skills during that time. He reached the water cart easily, grabbing the handle. The way back was a different story.

With the giant cart in tow, Justin was weighed down, and he began to sink into the water. He struggled to remain buoyant, but swallowed what felt like gallons of lake water in the process. Finally, his will gave up, and he sank into the deep water. The last thing he spotted was a trout before he was spun out of control by the evil cart. That was when he got saved.

A hand pulled his off the cart, and that hand grabbed it. Justin resurfaced, taking in a huge gulp of air. He looked around to see his rescuer; a young man was sitting in a canoe next to him.

"You looked like you needed help," he said. "I was getting water too, when I noticed you struggling with that thing. Want a lift?"

"Oh, please," said Justin. The man reached out his hand, and Justin grabbed on. He pulled him into the canoe, and hooked the cart to the back.

"So, who are you?" asked Justin.

"My name is Ben Parish," he responded.

"Hello, Ben."

They rowed back to shore, and Ben handed Justin a blanket. Exhausted, he collapsed down next to Cassie and fell asleep immediately.

 **Mike**

"So, now that they're gone, what do we do?" asked Mike, referring to him and Lena.

"You guys need to go out and rob as many grocery stores as possible, cos we don't have much money," said Mr. Sullivan.

"Ok, I'm down with that," said Lena.

As he and Lena walked toward the nearest store, something came to Mike's mind

"Uh Lena?" he asked. "We don't have to take that much since we don't need food to survive in the Matrix."

"What about the others?" asked Lena.

"What the [censored] do the stupid Others have to do with the Matrix!? They're invading the Matrix, so they are fake as well."

"Not the Others, the others, like the Sullivans!" said Lena. "As I already told you, the Matrix is slowly becoming more real, but I guess you're too stupid to comprehend that!"

Woah. Harsh.

"Ok," Mike said, a little embarrassed. "I'll get the beef, cheese, turkey, bread, and soda, while you get yogurt, veggies, and treats.

They had arrived at the store, he thought it was dumb how it was called _THE STORE OF STORES._ Apparently people were not very good at coming up with creative names for things. But when he went inside, his mind was blown. There was about a million people, fighting for whatever food they could get there hands on.

"Mike, we better hurry, otherwise there will be no food left to get," Lena stated

"Right on," Mike replied. "Run as fast as you can go

Mike and Lena immediately sped up and dashed around the store, looking for good food. There were no more carts left, so Mike and Lena had to use their hands. Lena had no trouble finding veggies, almost no one took the time to retrieve them. She grabbed loads of carrots, celery, lettuce, potatoes, lemons, limes, and spinach, as well as some ranch dressing to go along. There were almost no treats though, Lena had to hurry to grab those. All she got were a few ding dongs, cookies, and her favorite, Twinkies. She didn't even try to find the yogurt, she saw at least half the people with some.

Mike wasn't as lucky, on the other hand. He barely got one bottle of soda, some meat and cheese. There was no bread. He did what he had to do. He took out his Beretta 92 and fired it into the air.

"Alright," Mike shouted. "If any of you want to live, you will give me five packages of sourdough bread."  
"Don't think that we will give up our food, just so you can have some!" yelled an angry man.

"Well, I guess you can learn from your mistakes," Mike answered. He then shot the ground where he was standing. The man jumped up and ran, then Mike stole his bread.

"Anyone else want to reject me?" he asked pointed his gun at them.

"Let's get him, he doesn't have enough bullets for all of us!" yelled another. All the people surrounded him, then all tried to tackle him. Mike was a quick thinker, and unloaded his Beretta into the air, then took out dual wield uzis and fired at a shelf. Food and shelves fell at the people, and Mike run for it.

The angry crowd still tried to grab him, so he did jumps and punches, but not super punches. The crowd finally backed off, and Mike had more bread than he asked for, all kinds too! To add to that, he got a few soda bottles and cans some more cheese and meat, and even cookies, cake slices, cupcakes, and cereal. Mike loved cocoa pebbles. Lena came running down the aisle, then gave him a piece of her mind.

"What were you thinking Mike!"

"Hey, I just got us loads more food, I mean, look at all of this food!" he exclaimed

Mike and Lena argued for a while before deciding just to get back with the food. While they were getting out, Mike hid a case with five hundred dollars, for the store if they ever got through this. When they were almost at the door, an agent walked in.

"Hide!" Mike exclaimed. They both ducked for cover and talked through this.

"He must have been alerted when you shot at all those people," Lena said. "What have you got?"

"I ran out of ammo for my uzis, but have one clip left for my Beretta, but that won't really do any good against a bullet-blocking agent."

"I saved my weapons, so I have two uzis, a Skorpion, and two clips for each."

"Good," Mike said. "Now here's the plan."

When Mike was done telling her, Lena nodded in agreement. It was time to fpr Plan M. Which stood for Plan Mike.

Mike jumped up at started shooting his Beretta like no other. The Agent dodged the bullets easily, then fired his Desert Eagle at Mike. Mike got down and ran around, hoping the bullets never touched him. That was the time for Lena to get into the action. Without hesitation, she unloaded her Skorpions. The Agent, again, never had time to dodge these, so he fell to the Scorpion's bullets.

"That was fun," Lena told him.

"Yeah, for you maybe, I was running around like a crazy person!" he exclaimed.

"Let's get out of here before more agents show up, eventually we'll run out of bullets," Lena told him.

Lena and Mike walked along silently as they approached Cassie's house. What they didn't notice however, is that the Agent didn't transform. Instead, he got back up and followed them to the house, giving the order "Follow my lead."

 **End of Chapter 4**


	5. Food and Water Fallout Mode Sleep

**The Real World**

(Some time ago)

Morpheus emerged from the telephone thingy, popping back into Zion with his axe. He turned, waiting for the others to appear, but nothing happened.

 _What?_ He thought to himself.

Morpheus didn't have much time to think about that, because just then, Zhantov and his bodyguard Archangel came running toward him, pursued by android-like humanoids.

"MORPHEUS!" yelled Zhantov, "KILL IT!"

Morpheus threw his axe like never before. Archangel and Zhantov both hit the ground hard and rolled. Morpheus's axe cleaved through the robot's head, before flying back to his hand.

"Woah," said Morpheus, "flying axe."

"What are you doing, why do you have an axe?" asked Archangel with a mix of amusement and exasperation on his face.

"Bullets are cursed," said Morpheus, "so I use an axe instead."

Zhantov signed. "Morpheus, this place is under attack by the machines, or something else. I don't know. Come see this odd thing we found."

Morpheus followed the slender Zhantov through the halls of Zion's maintenance tunnels. Zhantov was quick and agile, easily carrying his LRR as he went in front. Morpheus followed behind with his axe, and the burly Archangel came last, wielding nothing but his fists.

Finally, the group started ascending out of the depths. Morpheus saw a bit of blotted out sky…

A blur of metal suddenly tore through the hall, knocking Morpheus and Archangel off their feet! Zhantov dodged out of the way, yelling "SENTINEL!".

However, the sentinel didn't seem interested in fighting the three amigos right then. Instead, the machine scuttled down the hallway into Zion. It encountered an Android, and Morpheus could just see it ripping the human-like robot to pieces.

"Why didn't they attack us?" asked Morpheus.

"Who knows," said Archangel in his baritone voice.

Zhantov pointed into the sky, saying "This is what you need to see."

Up in the air was a small green eye, bathing the land in erie green light. From the eye, several rods flocked downward towards earth.

"Holy [censored], said Morpheus, "what is that?"

 **Lena**

"We're back!" she exclaimed as they opened the door.

"Great!" said Sammy. "I'm starving!"

Sammy lunged for the food when Mike stopped him.

"We must be careful with the food, so we don't run out," explained Lena

"Why do we need to be careful?" he asked. "There's so much food, I still don't know how you managed it."

"Details not important," Mike responded. "The important thing is that even though we have enough food to about feed a small army, we must be careful, we don't know how long this will last."

Sammy nodded then dug around to check out the food.

Lena was about to ask him where Mr. Sullivan was, when Sammy let out a yell.

"What!?" Mike asked. "What's wrong

"You didn't get any frozen foods!"

"Duh, we don't have any power!" Mike said. "But, I bought hot dogs, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate.

"Why?" he asked.

"So that, if we make a campfire, we can roast the dogs, and make s'mores."

"Yum!" Sammy exclaimed

"Where's your dad?" Lena asked Sammy kindly.

"He's not here," it wasn't Sammy who had spoken, but his mother. Lena couldn't help noticing that she looked a bit sick.

* * *

 **Justin**

Justin woke up to find himself numb with cold. He was wrapped in the blanket given to him by Ben Parish, but it didn't do much. He looked around, seeing that everything was soaked to the skin.

"Justin," said Cassie, who was apparently awake, "you have frostbite. Did you swim and get that cart?"

"Uh, ya," he said, "who else would've?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe you had help."

"As a matter of fact, I did have a little."

Cassie looked interested. "Who was it?"

"He said his name was Ben Parish," Justin replied.

"Ben Parish?" Cassie suddenly started looking... wistful? "I know that guy." For some reason, Justin found myself hating Ben all of a sudden.

However, they had bigger problems than Ben Parish right now. "Listen, Cassie, I don't feel like losing any fingers. Can you start a fire?"

Cassie gave him a quizzical look. "Uh, everything is soaked. Plus, I have a broken leg, so even if I wanted to start one, I probably couldn't cos I can't [censored] move!"

 _I see._

"Well then," Justin said, "how do you suggest we save our legs?"

"Well, I have this flare."

"Use the flare for heat!"

"Oh, haha, good idea."

Cassie extracted the flare from her pockets. She lit it and put it close to me. Slowly, the numbness left my body, and I finally felt stuff.

"Thanks for that, now I'll try and help out your leg," said Justin. He immediately started looking for two nice sticks with which to make a splint. However, they were all wet.

"Cassie, I can't find any good sticks for splints. I'm not gonna try to move you until your leg is immobilized, kay?"

"Well then, what's the plan?" asked Cassie. Good question.

"Uhh… how about I leave you here and get help?" Justin suggested.

"No, I'll get eaten by wolves!" said Cassie.

"You guys get wolves?"

"Well, duh!"

Justin sighed. "How 'bout I put you on the water cart?"

"Sounds good to me."

Justin bent over, gingerly attempting to lift Cassie without causing discomfort. When that didn't work, he attempted to drag her up and onto the cart. It took a lot of effort and much squeaking, but he finally managed to do it.

Now, it was time for **Mission: Go Home As Fast As You Can!**

* * *

 **Lena**

After stocking the food away, Lena walked upstairs to read that book. It was called Psycho: The Novel. She found it to be quite interesting, the way that it twisted your mind and gave you a paranoid feeling. A paranoid feeling is a good thing to have in the Matrix, especially during an alien apocalypse.

A knock sounded downstairs: Lena got up, reluctantly leaving the book behind. She went downstairs, to see a soaking wet Justin lugging a cart full of water tanks, on which lay Cassie. Her leg looked bad.

"Uh," said Mike, "what happened?"

"It's a long story," said Justin, "one that I don't really feel like telling right now."

The Sullivans helped Justin heat up some of his water and fill a tub for a makeshift bath. Immediately, Justin disappeared into the bath. Cassie layed down on the couch and went to sleep.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Aliens, Agents and Robots All Suck

Hours later, Justin was out of his bath, and they were all eating chips and salsa. Cassie was moved to her room, and she was now awake doing whatever people with broken legs do. Sammy was up in his room, and his mom was out walking against everyone's thinking.

When they were all settling in and having a good time, the door burst open. Five agents, one from the supermarket, all stormed in, guns out.

"[censored]!" Mike exclaimed. "Agents!"

Justin, Mike and Lena reacted fast and charged upstairs. The Agents fired their deagles at the teens, Justin was hit on the floor a little, but ignored it and kept climbing. The Agents soon followed, and the gang hid in Cassie's room.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cassie asked startled.

"Shut up!" Mike said "They're coming!"

"Who?" she asked.

"Open up!" said an Agent. "Give us Singe, Macho, and Aspect!"

"Guys, take these!" Cassie said. She opened her bottom drawer, to reveal pistols and uzis.

"Where?... never mind." Lena said. They each grabbed two guns, except Cassie, who only took a single revolver, looked old.

"Alright!" one Agent yelled. "Here we come!" The door opened, and the bullets started flying. One agent fell from the start, but the others still lived. Justin had no choice, he had to. He jumped in front of the bullets, taking all of the shots. This gave Mike, Lena and Cassie the upper hand. Mike just fired his uzi everywhere, and all the agents fell. When the fighting was over, Justin was drained, but still alive.

"How did you do that?" Cassie exclaimed.

"Tell you… later," he said woozily. Then he collapsed on her bed.

"Wait," Mike stated. "Weren't there five of them?" Sure enough there were only four bodies on the ground.

"Look out!" Lena said. The fifth agent was there, and fired at them. Mike and Lena dropped, but Cassie shot him in the face killing him.

"That was quite an ordeal," Mike said.

"Good thing you had those guns Cassie," Lena said

"Yeah that was awesome!" Mike agreed.

"Well, you know, I had these for a long time, just in case," she replied.

"Let's reload," Lena said.

As they reloaded, the same thing happened that happened at the store. The Agents came back to life.

"Oh no!" Cassie yelled

"What?" Mike questioned. "Gahh! Draw your guns!"

It was easier this time, since the Agents were just recovering. They took them all out in about twenty seconds.

"We can't keep doing this forever!" Lena stated. "Grab Justin and let's go."

"Get my brother Sammy as well," Cassie ordered. "We can't leave him.

They dragged the cart to their room, throwing Cassie on. The gang left the house, Mike carrying Justin. Occasionally he said really funny things, but he decided not to mention it. Soon they were about five blocks away from the house. All they took with them was the cart, with all the food and water they could fit, along with some firewood. Again though, the Agents arose from death.

"Split into two groups," said one. "I will go it alone."

"I am calling in troops now," said another.

"We also have Morpheus' location near Zion." The shorter agent stated. "Sentinels are being sent now."

"Smith's job will be complete. Those three brats, and that one annoying girl, will be vanquished, and then Zion will finally fall!"

Meanwhile, Cassie's father was also stalking the agents. He was carrying a Magnum, and waiting for the right time to strike.

* * *

 **Zion (5 hours ago)**

"Must be aliens," said Zhantov.

"Why aliens?" asked Archangel.

"Cos what else would they be, huh?"

"Guys, shut up," said Morpheus. "We need to get back into Zion and help defend."

"No, Morpheus," said Zhantov. "We've got enough guys in there, fighting. We need to defend this entrance, which is very defendable. Make sure the baddies won't get in."

Archangel nodded his head. Morpheus sighed and got ready to defend.

First came a scouting group of androids, probably attempting to find a secret way in. They were all sniped down by Zhantov. Enemies continued to come, and either Zhantov shot them down or Morpheus and Archangel cut and smashed them to pieces.

However, their tenacity was worn down as Zhantov ran out of ammunition.

* * *

 **(5 hours later)**

The group had been defending for an extremely long time. Zhantov was completely out of bullets, and Archangel's knuckles were bleeding from punching metal. Morpheus was the only one left fighting. He had sent Zhantov back in to get some red bull (for energy), but for now, he was tiring.

Bodies of sentinels and androids were littered all around him. His axe was missing the blade, and he used it as a quarterstaff to whap the enemies around. It was far less effective, as he couldn't slice through armor. It took two or three bonks to go through their skin. Then, as if it couldn't get any worse, the place that Archangel had been standing suddenly exploded.

"Archangel!" Morpheus shouted, he couldn't see him, only a big pile of metal and brick. A sentinel came up and shot a laser circle around Morpheus. Morpheus then took a gamble.

"If I go down, I will go down with my men," Morpheus said to himself

He lunged at the Sentinel, hanging on to it with magnetic grabbers. He then poked out its main center eye with his stick, then covered up the laser hole. The sentinel started to shake and spin. Before it blew up, Morpheus jumped off to watch the sentinel explode in an array of sparks.

"Well, that went well don't you think, Archangel?" he asked. "Archangel!" he had almost forgotten

Morpheus dug furiously through the pile of rubble to get to him. There, lay Archangel, covered in blood, sweat, dirt, and rubble. He checked for a pulse, but Arch was dead, deader than dead. Little did he know it: a sentinel slowly rose above Morpheus. He had no time to react, so the sentinel grabbed him up, and took him away.

Out of the tunnel came Zhantov, carrying a red bull and a reloaded LRR. He spotted Archangel dead in the dirt, and cursed. He also saw Morpheus with the sentinel, flying away.

"[censored] it, they got the boss!" he said. "Well, I guess I'll have to get him back."

He set off across the flat land of the real world to hunt down that sentinel.

* * *

 **Justin (in the past)**

It was a sunny June morning, and Justin was ready for school to end. He was excited to see Mike and Lena a lot more over the summer. While most kids hated school and would not be giving a care today, them three planned to listen just the same as any other school day. Justin could hardly believe that this was his last day of school. He had such good memories, nice teachers, fun classes.

"Justin!" his mom shouted from down stairs. "Hurry up or you'll miss the bus!"

"Just finishing up!" he replied.

Today, he was dressing differently than usual. Normally he would wear some slick clothes and make his hair look nice. Today, his was just wearing his Batman t-shirt, blue jeans, and his blue jacket. He used to like being the most popular kid in school. But he never really did anything, besides, get mostly A's and B's. Kids only liked him because his family was rich. His Dad was the CEO of Redlin and Bunt, a business he'd founded with his friend Mr. Redlin.

After a bowl of Captain Crunch, he hopped on the bus. He immediately spied Mike, who waved at him.

"Hey man, what's going on?" Mike asked. "With you and the clothes."

"With me?" he replied? "Not much, just living my life, and as for the clothes, I wanted to dress down today."'

"Well, get ready to put your relax on, cos in about seven hours, we will be school-free," Mike said. "We can go out all the time, spend time together, have sleepovers, and eat ice cream.

"Right," Justin said. "With Lena obviously."

As if on queue, she entered in.

"Lena!" Mike yelled. "Come sit over here."

"You don't have to address that to the whole world," some kid in the front said, annoyed.

After classes of Algebra, Science, and Language 1, things got much more interesting.

"Do you want to know the truth?" a voice told Justin

As he was sitting at lunch, he noticed a man in black clothes and sunglasses standing by the door, he walked out.

"Mike, Lena," he told them. "Follow me.

They got up and walked toward the exit door. When they turned, the same man he saw was there.

"Who are you?" Justin asked suspiciously.

"I am Morpheus," he said. "If you want to know the truth, you will come with me, we haven't much time."

"Justin, do you know this man?" Mike asked

"I think I've seen him through my bedroom window a few times."

"We've been watching you Justin," he said. "Now, if you want answers and the truth, you will come with me."

He walked out the door and Justin, Mike, and Lena followed. They got into a car, and drove to a building. There, Morpheus explained why he came, and offered them the choice, to learn what the Matrix is, or stay here. They chose the first offer, then plunged into the real world. After that, all their adventures started….

* * *

 **(back to the present)**

Justin had revived from his state of exhaustion. They jogged as fast as they could away from the house, before the Agent showed up. He caught them by surprise, blasting a wheel off their cart. Mike shot him dead, but their cart was useless now.

"Now what?" said Cassie, who was once a cart passenger. "We're gonna have to go back home eventually."

"Why?" asked Mike.

"Because we'll have to constantly rob these stores, and that could get the police on us," said Cassie.

That was when the bad thing happened. Lena suddenly broke down in a fit of coughing, and a clump of blood flew out of her mouth. This coughing lasted for nearly four minutes, during which we all tried to help her. She looked up after the end of the coughing, and her eyes were blood red.

"What the [censored] was that?" asked Justin.

"I don't know," said Cassie warily, "but I don't like it. We're gonna need to head back."

"I agree," said Mike, just as Lena started coughing again. But this time, she didn't simply stop coughing. She ended with vomiting up a wave of ugly black fluid, staining her clothes.

"Great, now two of us are totally out of commission," said Justin. "Mike, carry Lena, I'll get Cassie."

* * *

 _How do I feel about Cassie?_ Justin thought to himself. He knew he had had some weird feelings about her. When he learned that she had feelings for Ben Parish, he felt a rush of hatred. Why?

He looked down at Cassie in his arms. _Surely I don't… love her?_ MENTAL GASP! DON'T SAY IT JUSTIN!

"Why are you looking at me weirdly, Justin?" asked Cassie.

"Because, um, you, have a beetle on your neck!"

* * *

 **Mrs. Sullivan**

Mrs. Sullivan walked down the street, returning from her walk. That's when she noticed four men in suits standing in front of her house. She looked around, and the men in suits paid no attention to her.

Then, she noticed her husband standing around a corner, holding a revolver. He looked at her, and put his finger over his mouth in a _SHHHHH_ method. Then, he turned a corner and put his gun up to one of the suit-guy's heads.

"YOUR MOTHER IS SO FAT THAT SHE'S FAT!" he yelled, pulling the trigger and blowing the guy's head to pieces. The others yelled and turned to attack.

"Ha, sick roast, dude," one of the Agents exclaimed, firing off his weapon.

Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan ran away, agents chasing them. They climbed up a tree, but the agents didn't see them.

"Where are they?" one asked.

"I just saw them before they went over the hill," the short one said

"Keep looking, in pairs," said another. Mr. Sullivan suspected he was the leader.

When the agents split, and two, one of them the short one, where only under the tree. Mr. Sullivan took this as the perfect opportunity.

"Stay here," he whispered to his wife.

She gave him a good luck kiss, just in case he went down. He jumped down, before the agents realized what was going down, Mr. Sullivan fell on the short ones head, and shot the one beside him. The other agent flung him off, and pointed his gun at him. Mr. Sullivan shot at him, but the agent just dodged it, went up to him, and said

"Only human."

Then, out of nowhere, Mrs. Sullivan jumped on him, creating the distraction he needed. The agent flung her off with ease, but it was to late. Mr. Sullivan shot him several times in the chest, then he fell down dead.

"Nice work honey!" he said. "Please don't ever do that again though, you scared me."

"Well you scared me," she said in reply. "At least those evil men are gone."

This time, the agents stayed down for a while, long enough for the Sullivans to leave. No one had any idea at all where they went henceforth. All anyone knew was that the Agents had decided not to mess with the Sullivans.

* * *

 **Mike**

Lena was dazed from her coughing fit. Since it happened, her eyes had gone glossy and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Every once in while, she would start coughing and Mike's shirt would get spattered with blood.

Everywhere they looked, other people were facing similar issues. The sound of coughing came from virtually every house they passed. The world was sick.

"We're here," said Cassie, pointing out her house. We stumbled over the threshold into the house, where they saw Cassie's father nailing boards over the window.

"Getting ready for an alien attack?" asked Justin.

"That and other things," he said, slamming in a final nail. "What's wrong with Lena?"

Just as he asked, they heard a terrible retching sound coming from the next room. Mike set down Lena, then went over to investigate.

Mrs. Sullivan was experiencing the same thing that Lena was going through.

* * *

 **(10 weeks later)**

 **Justin**

The agents seemed to not want to come over, as they weren't bothered over attacking. Since then, Cassie's mother had died. She was buried in the back yard by Cassie and her father. The end of the disease was the worst part. It took over it's victim's mind and caused them to say horrible things. Finally, it ended with a blood explosion that transported the virus. It was terrible.

Lena was still fighting the disease, as well as Mike, who had become sick five weeks before. Cassie and Justin continue to pray that he would make it through.

* * *

Sammy had no idea what they were going through. He was busy, flying his X-Wing and shooting the mothership.

The aliens had launched three waves, and they wouldn't be all. Mrs. Sullivan's death hadn't causes any of them to break down. Instead, a dull, aching pain settled in their hearts, filling the gap where Mrs. Sullivan had once been.

Who knows what will happen? Will humanity make it? Or will they all be destroyed?

* * *

 **(in the past)**

"Lena, what did I tell you!" her mom said. "No watching TV until you finish your math and-"

"But mom," Lena said in a whiny voice. "I don't understand this part of the homework, so I am going to ask my math teacher about it tomorrow.

"Well," said her mom. "I have seen you do hard things before, and I expect you to do that now. You are the smartest kid in class, and you will be forever, now get to it!"

Lena sighed and reopened her math book at the table. Since her mom or dad weren't very good at school, Lena had to do all the homework without any help. She would study with Mike and Justin, but her parents called that playing, and they didn't let her play until all her work was done for the day. And if an assignment wasn't due in two weeks, they would have her do it all in one day. Sometimes, she wished she didn't even live here, she wished she could get away from school and her parents. Then, she had an idea. Since neither her mom or dad really knew how to do math, she would get the wrong answer on purpose, then ask about it.

A few minutes later she said, "Mom, I finished, can I play video games now?"

Her Mom came in to review her work. She gave a few nods to herself, then said, "Yes, you may, for only forty-five minutes."

Lena went upstairs to her room. She had everything she could want, a phone, TV, Xbox, books, and lots of toys. But now, her focus was on War of the Wars or WoW. She played a lot so that she could beat Justin and Mike. Mike, was good, so was she, but Justin was the master. He could easily beat her and Mike, even if they teamed up. Justin knew all the best weapons and places to hide on the maps. Boy, did she ever want to beat him, than rub it all in his face.

After some games, and ice cream, Lena soundly went to sleep, her dreams were unimaginable. It started as her learning in class with her classmates. Then, two men in suits and ties came in, with guns.

"Justin, Mike," she asked. "What's going on?"

She turned to them, but they suddenly looked different. Both had black clothes and were loaded with weapons. The men in black then fired and Justin and Mike suddenly fell. Then a blond haired girl took Lena's hand into the hallway.

"When the time is right," she told Lena, "you will do what no one else can."

She was suddenly outside, the whole world burning. She tried to outrun the fire, but it suddenly engulfed her. She was then standing in a field, filled with red pods. She walked close to one. What she saw made her horrified. A baby, millions of little babies in red pods. The ground then pulled her down into it, and she woke up, filled with wonder, questions, and fear.

She never understood what her dream meant, until she left the Matrix. The fields, burned world, men in suits, and herself, Mike and Justin. It took her longer to find out who the blond girl was, but she was Cassie. The words from her mouth were still unanswered though.

"When the time is right, you will make the choice that no one else can."

 **End of Chapter 6**


	7. Stuff Just Got Real (Literally)

********(Present day: 2 weeks later)****

Lena awoke with a start, haunted by her own dream in a dream. She remembered her old life, but now this was her new.

Her throat was sore from coughing up so much blood, and sometimes she still did a little, but not as much. She was almost recovered, so was Mike. She longed for the day when she could again be herself. But right now, she was in no condition to fight. With Cassie and Justin on the roof scouting, and Mr. Sullivan agent proofing the house, it was just herself and Mike.

"Mike?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, still recovering though," he relied with a yawn. He looked around strangely. "Where are Justin and Cassie?"

"They're on the roof scouting," she said. "You were sleeping forever and I needed the company.

 _Knock knock,_ said the door. It opened, and Mr. Sullivan walked in. His face broke into a sad smile.

"You guys feeling better?" he asked. Lena was sure he was probably mad at them for living when his wife didn't.

"Definitely," Mike said.

"Can you walk?"

"Most definitely, are we going somewhere?" asked Lena.

"Yep, we're heading out to a refugee camp," said Mr. Sullivan.

"Just give us a little more time to get up," said Mike, "and we'll be ready to go."

Mr. Sullivan turned and walked out of the room.

Mike stretched out and began making those stretching noises that people make. Lena kinda just tried to get up a bit.

She regretted it, a little bit. Taking the red pill, and going to Zion and the Real World. She knew it was better, but think what might have happened if she and her friends had just stayed in the Matrix. They would've flirted, fought, and fell in love, no doubt about it.

Lena had never thought much about love through her life, except maybe like the occasional crush on a popular guy or something. Who did she love, because there's always someone special…

Lena pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. This was no time to worry about lovey dovey stuff. This was the time to get ready to leave, which she did with punctuality.

* * *

 **Justin**

Justin was scouting on the roof with Cassie, or they were supposed to be. It was sunny out, so they were mostly just taking naps and reading on the roof. He never had the chance to do something like his at his old house. His parents always expected the best out of him, so he tried to live up to their standards. Still though, all that never happened, so he could now start over. And If what Lena said was true, that the Matrix was becoming more and more real, then what happened to Zion and the real world? He tried to push those thoughts out of his head as he read Stephen Crane's _The Red Badge of Courage._ He had started to read it for school, but ever since he left, he hadn't gotten to finish it. It was to concentrate though, he kept catching himself glancing at Cassie, who was sleeping. She looked so pretty, even with a cast on her leg. Justin felt like that was his fault for some reason. He had watched enough movies like that to realize that wasn't true. Nevertheless, he felt like that anyway. The nice person, Ben Parish, had rescued them. He was worried about Ben. Not his safety, but his feelings for Cassie. Half of him didn't really care what Ben felt about Cassie, and the other half wanted to blast him with all the bullets he had. He was all alone in his thoughts when Cassie nudged him.

"How long have I been out for?" she asked with a yawn

"I can't tell," he answered. "But I think we've been up here for almost six hours. Chips?" he asked hopefully

"Sure," she said, and took a large handful.

"Is there anything else?" she asked

"Not right now, but in a sec," he replied. "Wait while a make a call."

Justin yelled down into the pipe they used to communicate with the lower house. Soon enough, Mike showed up..

"Hey, can you please bring up some bread, meat, cheese, and cookies to us?" he asked

"Sure," Mike said. "FYI, we're moving out in a little bit."

"Where?" asked Justin

"I don't know," Mike replied. "But Cassie's dad said so."

"Roger that."

He hung up then explained to Cassie that they were moving out soon.

"Where?" she asked; "And who said?"

"Your dad."

They were then interrupted by Mike. He brought them four slices of sourdough bread, four keebler cookies, swiss cheese, and oven roasted turkey breast slices.

When they finished their food, Justin jumped off the roof.

"How did you do that?" Cassie asked amazed; the drop was almost thirty feet off the ground!"

"It's just something we can all do, I mean, Mike Lena and I," he responded.

The truth was, he did it to impress her. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, not Ben's. That boy would never have her. Slowly he realized, the dark side was taking him over.

* * *

 **Justin walked into the house to see Mr. Sullivan and Mike loading up food and water into backpacks. Lena was building a First Aid kit out of random stuff found around the house. Cassie was nowhere to be seen.**

"Hey," said Justin. "Anything I can do to be helpful?"

"No," said Mr. Sullivan.

 _Well that was rude,_ Justin thought to himself.

"Where's Cassie?" he asked.

"She's grabbing those guns we had upstairs," said Mr. Sullivan, "even though they're empty. The theory is that we can intimidate Twigs with them."

"But we have guns, loaded ones," said Mike.

"Five guns are scarier than three," said Mr. Sullivan.

"Point taken," said Justin.

Mr. Sullivan tossed a backpack at Justin, who caught it with an _umph._ He took his last loaded gun, a single TAC-45. He had used the rest shooting Twigs who had tried to attack. The TAC-45 had a total of one-hundred bullets left, spread throughout clips. Definitely not enough to last him an entire apocalypse. He'd have to find more guns.

Cassie and Sammy came in, and the rest of the group put their packs on. They headed out the door, seeking out a group of people to leave with.

* * *

 **Morpheus**

The sentinel weaved through the air at top speed, heading straight for Machine City. Morpheus had lost his sunglasses due to the merciless winds blowing. His sides were pinched from the Sentinel's claws gripping. He was also exhausted.

In the distance, he saw the lights of Machine City, and wondered what would happen to him there.

* * *

 **(twenty minutes later)**

The sentinel dropped down into the city, soaring with Morpheus in its grasp. It headed for a tower, eventually landing up top.

The Sentinel carried him inside, where he saw an odd looking machine. The sentinel dropped him on the floor and left him in the presence of none other than the Deus Ex Machina.

"Hello, Morpheus," the machine said. "We have been looking for you for a long time."

"Why did you fight us?" asked Morpheus. "Neo made peace with you before he died."

"Neo's bargain was empty of repeating reward," the machine responded. "He agreed to defeat Smith, but afterwards, we reaped no reward. Therefore, we attacked you again. Now, the only reward we could ever get is your destruction."

"But why?" asked Morpheus. "And why must you attack when those THINGS are attacking us as well?" asked Morpheus.

"They call themselves the Others," said the machine. "The Others are the best opportunity to take Zion for once and for all. Now, onto business. I want you to tell me who the seventh One is."

"The seventh… One?" asked Morpheus.

"Yes, you heard me," said the machine. "The seventh One. The One to make peace with the machines and save Zion, or whatever. The Sixth one failed, so therefore, there must be a seventh."

"I don't know, Deus," said Morpheus. "Even if I did, I would never tell you."

"Of course you know," said Deus. "The Oracle prophesied that you would find the One, so therefore you must know. And if you don't tell me, something terrible will happen to you."

"Oh yeah? What'll that be?" said Morpheus.

"You will be plugged back into the Matrix, and you will provide power for the machines until your dying day."

 _Woah,_ thought Morpheus, _low blow._

"I already told you, Deus," said Morpheus, "I don't know."

"I'll give you one more chance," said the machine.

"I don't know."

"Fine," said Deus. "Dispose of him."

Four sentinels materialized out of seemingly nowhere. They grabbed Morpheus and bore him up, and carried him down a flight of stairs.

They entered the familiar Matrix power plant, where Morpheus had saved many a blue pill. There, he saw a single opened pod with his name on it.

 _I will not return to the Matrix,_ he thought to himself. And then it happened.

The pillar in the center of the room broke asunder, and a flash of light blasted through the room. It began to collapse, as the pods all fell and disintegrated into seemingly nothing. Suddenly, Morpheus was free, as the sentinels holding him were thrown backwards.

He laid on the ground, watching the ceiling come crashing down towards him. "I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" he yelled, and with unmatched force, he caught the ceiling and threw it up and out of the plant.

Morpheus stood there, dazed for a moment, before he realised what had happened.

 _The Matrix's power is here, somehow,_ he thought, _and I can channel it. Neo wasn't the sixth one: the Oracle was right all along. She said that one day, I'd find the One. Neo was just a normal redpill with a very, very strong mind. I'M the Sixth one._

Morpheus smiled to himself. It was time to go kick some machine [censored].

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena was suddenly slammed in the chest, flying backward into the ground; her breath was knocked out. She couldn't move.

After about four minutes, she finally rose to her feet, as did her companions.

"Lena," said Mike, "what just happened?"

Lena looked at Mike. "I think the Matrix just became real."

 **End of Chapter Seven**


	8. Come On Justin, Get In The Meat Grinder

**Mike**

"Matrix? I've heard of matrices, but THE Matrix?" said Mr. Sullivan. "Is it like, the ultimate math problem?"

Mike snorted with amusement.

"No, dad," said Cassie, "it's some stupid conspiracy theory they've got about some fake world, or other."

"Well, neither the theory nor the world are fake now," said Lena.

"Ok, now you're confusing me," said Cassie.

"Guys," said Sammy, "we've got company."

Mike's head snapped around and he spotted three twigs approaching.

"Justin!" yelled Mike, "shoot them dead!"

Justin proceeded to drop each twig with his TAC-45 with ease, then he cursed.

"Why'd you curse?" asked Cassie.

"That was thirty bullets," said Justin, "two more of those fights and I'm out."

That was not very comforting news. "Let's move on, get to a refugee caravan," said Mr. Sullivan.

Mike adjusted his pack and the group took off for the town center. After a while, they heard voices and came upon a file of refugees fleeing fast. The group wordlessly inserted themselves into line and followed them to camp.

* * *

 **Quick Author's Note:** From this point until I say so, assume that the group went to the same refugee camp and that pretty much the same stuff happened. Feel free to come up with your own stuff.

* * *

 **Cassie Sullivan's POV**

 _Vroom, vroom!_ Everyone was jumping for joy! The people in charge were finally here!

The military had arrived, driving functional vehicles and bringing functional school buses. They entered the camp, and the guy that looked to be the leader yelled out "Everyone below age sixteen, line up near the buses."

Mike, Lena and Justin shrugged and headed for the bus. When they noticed that I wasn't coming, they turned around.

"You're sixteen?" said Lena.

"Dab on it," I said, and dabbed. Justin started freaking out and spasmed onto the ground.

"Dabbing is dead!" said Mike.

"Like the rest of the world?" I responded.

Lena sighed and headed for the bus. Mike grabbed Justin, who was now making choking/giggling noises, and started dragging him away.

Sammy, on the other hand, didn't really want to get on the bus. He was mad, saying things like "why can't Cassie come?" and others. I ran over to calm him down.

"Mike, Justin and Lena are going too," I said. "We'll be following soon. Just stay with those three."

Eventually, after much calming, Sammy agreed. He climbed onto the bus, holding his teddy bear in his hand.

* * *

 **Another Quick Author's Note:** Just so I don't have to plagiarise the 5th Wave, assume that everything that happened to Cassie in the book happened up until I go back to Cassie, cos that's what happens. We won't be seeing her for a while, it'll be mostly other people.

Also, do the same for Ben Parish until I mention him (which might never happen).

* * *

 **Justin**

Justin regretted leaving Cassie behind. What if something were to happen, like the 4th Wave, while she was back there? Who knows?

A medic came down the aisle, passing stuff out. He handed me and Mike two packs of fruit snacks, before handing them to Lena and Sammy across the aisle.

"Aw, heck ya!" said Mike before digging into his snacks. Justin started eating quietly.

* * *

After some time, the bus growled through a gate, passing into a camp. It rolled over the paths, coming to rest in a hangar. Justin looked down at the red smiley stamp on his hand, cos why not?

A fat-looking soldier bounded up the steps of the bus, before yelling out…

"Good morning, boys and girls, and welcome to Camp Haven! My name is Major Bob. I know you're tired and hungry, and maybe a little scared… who's a little scared right now? Raise your hand." No one raised their hands, and Major Bob smiled happily, "That's outstanding. And you know what? You shouldn't be scared! Our camp is the safest place in the whole ding-dong world right now, I kid you not. You're all perfectly safe." Justin snorted, and heard Mike muttering "Ding-dong world? _Ding-dong?_ Seriously?"

Major Bob grabbed a clipboard from an overly-happy soldier, and began to speak again. "Now there are only two rules here at Camp Haven. Rule number one: Remember your colors. Everybody hold up your colors!" Twenty-eight fists launched upward, including Justin's. The twenty-ninth belonged to a girl sitting with Sammy and Lena on the other side of the aisle. It did not go up.

"Reds, in a couple of minutes you'll be escorted into hangar number one for processing."

"Processing?" Justin yelled a little louder than he meant to.

"Yes, processing," said Major Bob, before going on. "Greens, sit tight, you've got a little farther to go."

The girl with Lena and Sammy whispers something unintelligible.

"Rule number two!" Major Bob shouts. "Rule two is two words: Listen and Follow. That's easy to remember, right? Rule two, two words."

"Thanks, I can count," Justin muttered.

Major Bob plowed on relentlessly. "Listen to your group leader. Follow every instruction your group leader gives you. Don't question and don't talk back. They are-we all are- here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to keep you guys safe."

"I don't need a fat major and a school bus to keep myself safe," Mike whispered. Justin stifled a laugh.

"And we can't keep you guys safe unless you guys listen to and follow all instructions, right away, no questions." He returned the clipboard. "Any questions?"

The girl whispered something else.

"Outstanding!" said Major Bob. "Let's get you processed!"

"He's not [censored]ing processing me," Justin said.

"Reds," yelled Major Bob, "your group leader is Corporal Parker. No running, no pushing, or shoving, but keep it moving. No breaking line and no talking, and remember to show your stamp at the door. Let's move it, people. The sooner we get you processed, the sooner you can catch some sleep and eat some breakfast. I'm not saying the food is the best in the world, but there's plenty of it."

Justin and Mike both rose to their feet, though Justin was a bit more reluctant. Lena rose and grabbed Sammy's hand, before the girl was on him.  
"Don't leave me, Sammy," she said.

"But I'm a red," he protested.

"It's okay, Megan," said Lena. "They'll fix you up right back to full health."  
"Nothing is okay anymore," Megan said. "These people… you don't know who they are."

"Yes we do," said Lena. "They are our protectors."  
"NO!" yelled Megan. "THEY'RE NOT WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE!"

Mike and Justin took that opportunity to leave. As they walked out of the bus, they heard Megan's screaming echoing from the interior. Lena and Sammy followed shortly after.

 **Mike**

The group trooped over to the line, entering the hangar, where they each sat in a red circle and remained there for a while. A woman instructed them to wait for their numbers to be called, and Mike waited for over an hour.

"NUMBER 76, PLEASE HEAD TO PROCESSING!"

Mike got up and headed for the big door, where he entered a room with a thin nurse.

"Hello," she said nicely, "how are you?"

"Wonderful. The middle of a [censored]ing alien apocalypse that killed seven [censored]ing billion people and I'm [censored]ing fine!" Mike responded.

The nurse just laughed, then said "Well, how long has it been since you had a bath?"

"About three weeks, four days and twelve hours."

"That's certainly a long time," said the nurse, whipping back a curtain to reveal a shower.

"Everything comes off and into the hamper," said the nurse. "We like children here, but not lice, ticks, or anything that has more than two legs."

Mike shrugged, undressed, and showered. After he got out, he put on one of the paper robes and proceeded to the next room.

In the next room was an older, fatter, meaner nurse who began to ask him questions.

(Blue is nurse, red is Mike)

"What's your full name?"

"Michael Daws French, but most people just call me Mike."

"Mmmm hmmm, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Where are you from?"

"My last name is French, does that give you a clue?"

"So you're from France?"

"Of course not, I'm from Mega City."

"Sure. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Do best friends count?"

"No."

"Kay, then I'm bankrupt."

"Aren't we all? Is anyone in your family still alive?"

"I don't know. I moved in with a family of mostly immune people once the pestilence struck. They probably died."

"Who was that family?"

"Called the Sullivans."

"Are they alive?"

"Father, son and daughter."

"I assume you traveled with them. Where did you go?"

"Camp Ashpit."

"Do you know the locations of other survivors?"

"Wish I could tell you."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Morgan French and Dana French, who was formerly Vanya Makhtov. Mom was a Russian immigrant, which explains the Russian accent."

"You don't have a Russian accent."

"I don't?"

"What did your parents do for a living?"

"Dad was a firefighter, and Mom was a stay-at-home Mom."

"What are your best friend' names?"

"Justin Isaac Bunt and Lena Fondue Imbala."

Finally, after some more questions, Mike was allowed to go to the next room.

In the room was a nice looking doctor who allowed me to sit down across from her.

"Hello," she said quietly, "my name is Dr. Pam."

"Hi," Mike said.

Dr. Pam pulled out a tiny gray silver pellet. "Mike, I'm going to insert this into your neck. It's a tracking beacon, like a pet chip. You will never be lost from us, cos we will always be able to find you."

A tracking device? Awesome. Mike laid down on the table, and the needle inserted into his neck. He felt a bandage plastered over the incision, before Dr. Pam told him that it was okay to sit up.

Dr. Pam said "Now, we need to go to the next room."

Mike got up and followed Dr. Pam into a small room with a white dentist's chair. Dr. Pam tells him to sit in it, which he does before she tightens the straps.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked nervously.

"We found an alien program called Wonderland. We're not sure what they're using them for, but it's definitely safe. We call it Wonderland."

"What's it do? I'm not exactly privy to alien technology," said Mike.

"Makes a map of your brain, your memories, everything," she responded.

"Ummm, I don't really feel good about that," said Mike.

"It'll be fine," she responded.

"You know, I could break out of these straps right now," said Mike.

Dr. Pam quickly pressed a button before Mike could do anything, and his mind exploded into memories.

 **(flashback)**

His first day at school. Mike was sitting in the backseat, sucking his thumb nervously while his mother drives.

"It's gonna be so exciting!" she said, her face lit up like a floodlight.

Mike wasn't so sure. He actually felt a little sick to his stomach.

After driving for some time, they arrived at the school. His mother pulled into the parking lot of **Ready Set GO! Preschool and Kindergarten.** They parked and walked in to the building.

They turned the corner, pulling into a cheery room with words on the blackboard saying **Mrs. Marigold's Class!**

Mrs. Marigold didn't remind Mike of a Marigold at the time. A Marigold is yellow or orange, and Mrs. Marigold had white hair and pale skin. Marigolds are round and plump. Mrs. Marigold was thin as a wire. Marigolds grow in the happy, warm springtime. Mrs. Marigold grows in the cold, sad winter.

That day, Mike had fun in preschool, until recess, which is supposed to be the MOST fun. At recess, everyone played this odd game, competing to see who could do the highest pull ups. Mike lost every time. From there on out, he resolved to become strong. And look how that ended up.

 **Dr. Pam**

Mike sat in his chair, winded. The good Doctor looked over his memories right quick.

 _He knows about the Matrix,_ she thought to herself. _Interesting. He should make a strong recruit._

Mike looks up. "Well, that was fun," he chimed.

 **Mike**

"There's just one more thing we need to do before we can let you go," said Dr. Pam. "I have one question: have you ever seen an alien?"  
"Not that I know of," said Mike. "Why?"

"I'm afraid we've all seen one," said Dr. Pam. "Would you like to see one now?"

"Oh, heck ya!" said Mike.

Dr. Pam lead Mike through a door into a room with a mirror. That's when Mike saw all that had changed during his time at Camp Ashpit.

His golden hair had lost all vibrance, and had grown almost to his shoulders. His blue eyes were dull, and his pale skin was sunken and dry. Mike also noticed his ribs, and realized that he was quite hungry.

 _How can I be hungry, I'm in the Matrix?_ He thought to himself.

Dr. Pam got him to sit down in a chair in front of the mirror, and the chair was next to a computer. Suddenly, the mirror became see-through, and Mike saw someone.

The person was in his mid thirties, with a surprising amount of gray hair. He looked like he had been forced through much trouble, and he had a huge scar on his face. However, that wasn't the worst part.

The man's head was translucent, allowing Mike to see the brain. Attached to the cerebral cortex (Mike is smart, yay!) was a green egg, pulsating, attached to the rest of the brain with strange cords that traveled round and round.

"This is what they're doing to us," said Dr. Pam. "They are infesting our brains, and we think that one in three remaining survivors are one of them. Now, you have the opportunity to kill one."

Mike noticed the button on the computer. The button marked "Execute".

"Push the button," said Dr. Pam. "It'll be painless."

Mike brought his hand down on the button as hard as he could.


	9. Ohhh, the Changer just got USED!

**Zhantov**

Zhantov had been running for the past three hours and had gone exactly thirty miles. Remarkable endurance. On the way, he had used his LRR sparingly, attempting to save his bullets for the battle ultimately to come.

Finally, Machine City was in sight, and Zhantov set up his secondary weapon (a high-powered sniper rifle) on the top of a hill.

Staring down the 16x scope, Zhantov could see Morpheus running around, causing mischief in the streets. Except that he was undefeatable.

Morpheus flew through the air, ripping through sentinels like nothing and freezing inbound projectiles in mid air. He threw things that no one could ever lift, and shrugged off bullets like they were nothing. Causing sound waves and EMPs, the hero wiped out the villainous robots, winning a great victory for every step he took.

However, he was being overwhelmed. The sheer numbers the machines had were too many, and Morpheus would certainly fall soon. Zhantov knew it was time for some Zhantov-action.

He lined up three sentinels in his sights. Pulled back the action with a click. Squeezed, didn't pull. Three sentinels down.

Ten rounds. Thirty sentinels. One clip. Reload.

However, that one clip attracted a huge swarm of sentinels. Zhantov quickly shifted focus from the ones that were surrounding Morpheus to the ones flying his way. Lifted the LRR. Sight. Squeeze trigger.

Zhantov continued in this fashion, driving off the sentinels to perdition. However, now Zhantov was getting overwhelmed.

Morpheus was saved. Many sentinels had shifted focus to Zhantov, who was shooting them relentlessly. Morpheus flew at some more sentinels and disintegrated them.

Zhantov was doomed. He was out of ammo. That was until Morpheus joined the fight on the hill.

"How did you-"

"It is a remarkable story, worth writing in the history books." he answered. "But right now we need to fight."

"How will we do that!?" Zhantov asked angrily. "We're all out of ammunition, and surrounded by sentinels."

"Just sit there, and watch," Morpheus answered. And Zhantov couldn't even respond before Morpheus leaped into action. Ripping apart sentinels, dodging bullets, and the heroic stuff. Suddenly, Zhantov seemed very unimportant. This must have been how the rest of the crew felt when Neo was the one. He was so special, yet he only became the One a few days after he was rescued, and barely knew everyone on the crew. But of course since he was the One, he got all the special attention from the people of Zion. He hoped Morpheus wasn't the same, stealing all the glory.

Zhantov was alone in his thoughts, deeper than deep, when Morpheus walked to him, not even panting.

"What now sir?" Zhantov asked.

"Singe, Macho, and Aspect are still stuck in the Matrix, and somehow I can be the one here in the Real World," he responded. "We have to find a way to rescue them, they must be almost dead."

If only Morpheus knew, they were just fine, right were they were.

* * *

 **Mike**

The person instantly fell to the ground.

"You see," she said. "That wasn't to hard, was it?"

"Nah, it was fun, getting back at them, after all the pain they've caused!" Mike explained

"Yes, now go through that door and you can sleep" she told him

Mike went through, and it was just like a school cafeteria, but the food was way better. "What would you like today?" the lunch lady asked.

"Ten pancakes, a chocolate milkshake, and real maple syrup," he answered.

He didn't think she would give him what he asked for, it seemed so ridiculous. Nevertheless, she gave him all of that. He wondered if they were even real. He quickly found Justin and Lena, with Sammy next to her.

"Hey guys!" he exclaimed. "How goes things?"

"We're totally fine," said Lena. "I didn't push the button."

"Why?" Justin asked. "It's not like you were killing a person, it was an Other!"

"Yeah," Agreed Mike.

"I don't trust Wonderland," said Lena. "An Alien program, makes me feel weird. Something didn't feel right."

"To be honest," Mike said. "I'm a little suspicious too, the lady gave me a twenty-five ounce chocolate milkshake, and like ten pancakes! That would never happen at school."

"Guys," Sammy said softly, "when are Cassie and Daddy going to get here?"'

"I dunno, why are you asking me, ask Lena, she might know," Justin said with a mouthful of biscuit, he had like five, with three fried eggs and a glass of orange juice.

"Why me?" asked Lena. "I don't know everything, boys."

"Yes, you do," said Sammy, "because Justin said.

"Yep, thanks for that." Justin said. "And also, have you noticed how there is power here."

"Yeah," Mike said. "Kinda weird, but I like having lights on," he said. "But that will give us a chance to use this for good."

He pulled out the changer, a device that could change the fabric of the Matrix, anyway you wanted.

Then, Major Bob ran out to the front of the cafeteria. Mike quickly put it back into his pocket. "Attention, everyone! You have been processed, and you all did a great job! Soon, in about five minutes, you guys are gonna start getting called through that door to talk to some nice army men. They will tell you what you need to do!"

"Hey, let's get out of here without anyone noticing," Mike said. They all nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately, upon reaching the door, they bumped into the most intimidating man they had ever seen. His face appeared to be chiseled from wood, with hard corners and ridges. He wore fatigues, with the insignia of a Colonel was pinned to his shoulders. His eyes were the things that got Mike good: his eyes were a shocking blue, that pierced down to Mike's soul.

"Come with me," he said simply. "But leave the boy."

"I'm not leaving him," said Mike, shifting into a combat position.

The man's fist flew so fast that it was barely visible. Mike didn't feel the impact: all he new was that he was standing one second, then on the ground in another.

Then, the Colonel hauled him to his feet. "Come now, Michael. You know better than that."

"[censored] you."

The Colonel chuckled softly, and started walking. Mike and the gang had no choice but to follow him. Sammy hung back, looking very afraid.

Soon, the group stepped into an office. The Colonel directed them to chairs, and he sat down behind a desk.

"My name is Colonel Alexander Vosch," he said. "You know about the Matrix. And you know it's real."

"How do you know?" asked Lena.

"I have a freed mind," said Vosch, "as do most of my other troops. We stay here to defend the Matrix, for if humanity is lost here, it is lost in the Real World."

"Okay," said Justin.

"You three and your young friend are about to be put into a squad. You are to obey your drill instructor to the letter. DO NOT tell anyone at all about the truth."

"Sir, yes sir!" yelled Mike.

"Thank you," said Vosch. "You have a Changer, correct?"

"Uh, yeah?" said Lena.

"You have permission to use this Changer any time during free time or during a mission," said Vosch, "as long as it is subtle and no one knows. You have these three batteries. Use them well, because the resource is not infinite and we will not be able to replenish your supply."

"Good deal," said Justin. He shook hands with the Colonel.

* * *

 **Ben Parish**

Ben Parish was dead. Ben Parish was weak. A sissy. Not Zombie.

Zombie was stone-cold. Zombie was hardcore. Zombie was indestructible. Zombie hated Reznik.

Reznik was the senior drill instructor in Squad 53, the cruel, sadistic man who gave everyone stupid nicknames.

Oompa, the fat kid who was last in every drill but first in chow line. Dumbo, the twelve year old with the big ears. Teacup, the bloodthirsty seven year-old. Poundcake, the overweight eight year old and the best shot in the squad by far. Flintstone, squad leader (not anymore, Ben took that privilege from him. But at first, ya know) . Tank, the ordinary kid. Then, the other ones came.

Poor Nugget, five years old, standing in line as Reznik tortured and humiliated him. Meatbag, a tall kid with golden hair, blue eyes and a slight Russian accent. Upstart, an asian girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. Pillsbury was the one who bothered Ben the most.

Ben pulled him from the lake during the second wave. The first thing Ben saw when he pulled him out were light brown eyes, dark brown hair, and tanned skin. Ben instantly recognized him.

When he walked into the barracks, their eyes met. They both said "you" in unison, but there was something odd in his eyes. He looked… angry. He hated Ben Parish.

Truth is, they couldn't have done anything without Meatbag. Meatbag carried them always. A remarkable physical specimen, one who always beat Reznik at his own game. Reznik couldn't punch him: he would bruise his hands on Meatbags muscles. Meatbag wouldn't just do one hundred knuckle push ups, he would do two hundred, in the time it took Ben to do fifty. Crazy.

Finally, one day, Ben decided to figure out what was bothering Pillsbury. Why he hated him after he pulled him from the lake.

"Yo Pillsbury!" Ben yelled to him during free time. He was hanging out with Meatbag and Upstart. Those three were tight.

"What?" he yelled back.

"Get over here, I need to talk to you."

Pillsbury shook his head. "I don't really want to."

"What you want doesn't mean [censored] to me. I'm the squad leader," Ben yelled back.

Pillsbury got back up grudgingly, and they headed to THE NOOK. THE NOOK was a secret little closet in the barracks that Reznik didn't know about. No one knew about it, except for the Squad.

"What is it?" asked Pillsbury.

"Why do you hate me?" Ben asked.

Pillsbury looked confused (probably faked it). "Why would I hate you, Ben?"

"Ben is dead. I am Zombie."

"Nope, you're Ben. But, whatever," he replied. His eyes darted around furiously.

"The look in your eyes when we saw each other," Ben said. "That was hate."

Pillsbury furrowed his brow and pursed his lips. "What reason do I have _not_ to hate you?"

"Oh, just the fact that I saved you from drowning."

Oh. Roasted.

"Tell me," Ben demanded. "Tell me or I'll report you to Reznik for concealing information from your Squad Leader."

Double roasted. You can't get out of that.

"It's because… well, the thing is…" Pillsbury said.

"Having a hard time there? Just get it out," Beb snapped.

Pillsbury opened his mouth, then he closed it. Then he punched Ben in the face.

* * *

 **Justin**

Ben recoiled, slamming into the door of THE NOOK. Justin ran to him, grabbed his shoulders, and slammed him into the floor. Ben yelled out for help as Justin continued to punch him in the head and the chest…

The door opened, and Mike came in to see what the commotion was.

"Justin, what the [censored] are you doing?" he shouted, before grabbing Justin and peeling him off Ben. "What's going on in here?"

"I was asking him questions, and he just punched me in the face!" yelled Ben from the ground.

"That's not what happened!" Justin protested, pulling against Mike's arms.

The rest of the squad came running in. Lena and Dumbo immediately started checking out Ben (faithful squad medics). Justin continued struggling futilely against Mike's iron grip.

"Tank, Flintstone, go get Reznik," Dumbo yelled over the commotion. The two friends dashed out like rabbits.

Teacup, Oompa, and Poundcake grabbed their guns and trained them on Justin, in case he had a case of the Dorothys and went wild.

Soon enough, Reznik showed up.

"Put the guns down!" he yelled to Teacup and Oompa, but he allowed master marksman Poundcake to keep his up.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Sir, Private Zombie and Private Pillsbury went in here, then we heard a scuffle and came running," said Dumbo.

"Alright, I want to hear the story from two sides, you know, see if the facts match," Reznik snarled. "Zombie, go first."

"Sir, I couldn't help but notice that Private Pillsbury seemed to not like me. I brought him here to figure out why, but when we made progress, he started beating me up. Caught me by surprise and I went down. Then Private Meatbag saved my life," Zombie said.

"Liar!" Justin yelled.

"SHUT UP, PRIVATE!" Reznik yelled. Ouch.

"Now, let me hear your side," said Reznik, looking at Justin.

"Sir, the squad leader brought me in here and started asking me awkward questions. I refused to answer, and he threatened to report me to you. So I attacked, in self-defense."

"Sir-" said Zombie, before Reznik cut him off.

"Private Pillsbury, is it true that you dislike Private Zombie?" he asked.

"Yes, that's true."

"Okay, then I see no reason for his story to be false," said Reznik. "However, I see no reason for Private Zombie to want to know why you hate him."

"Sir, he has no reason to hate me," interrupted Zombie. "I saved his life during the second wave."

"Did you really?" asked Reznik. "If that's true, I can definitely see the reason you'd want to find out. Private Poundcake and Private Meatbag, you will escort these two to the Colonel's office."

"Sir yes sir!" the two of them yelled. Mike whispered something in Justin's ear, but he couldn't tell what he said.

Truth is, Reznik should've been able to know immediately why Justin hated Ben, because of Wonderland. However, Justin was too strong for Wonderland. He was able to use his force of will to hide his most sensitive memories from the program.

Mike held Justin by the arms and marched him down the hallway. Poundcake had a hard time steadying the injured Ben, and Reznik directed Dumbo to help the operation.

They quick stepped down the halls, or at least stepped as quick as they could with Ben hurt. _Man, it felt good to punch Ben Parish,_ Justin thought to himself.

Finally, they arrived at Colonel Vosch office. They knocked, heard a _Come in,_ and they stepped inside. Justin and Ben sat down in chairs in front of the Colonel's desk, while the heavily armed Poundcake and Mike stood guard over the flock.

"Oh, Justin," said Vosch. "Oh, Ben."

Justin gulped.

"What kind of trouble have you gotten yourselves into? Fighting? Concealing information? I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable."

Vosch's blue eyes seemed to burn into anything and everything, cutting down to Justin's soul like a knife.

"Justin, why do you hate Ben?" Vosch asked, like a curious child.

"No reason," Justin said.

"If you hated Ben, it would've showed up in your Wonderland profile," said Vosch. "Surely, you didn't use strength of will to hide the reason?"

"Huh?" said Ben. Ha. He didn't know what strength of will is.

"So, Justin, we're going to run the Wonderland program on you, again and again, until you surrender the reason behind your hate."

Bad. Bad, bad, bad. This is very very bad.

Three soldiers came and collected Justin. They left the room, going down the hallway off to the rabbit hole.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike felt guilty, watching his best friend walking down the hall to who knows how long, his memories being mined, until they found the source of his hate. Mike didn't even know that he hated Zombie, until now.

"Michael, Andy, please escort Ben back to your barracks. Actually," Vosch said, "Michael, stay here and wait for your friend."

Andy? Pound Cake's real name. Andy.

* * *

 **Justin**

Strapped into the Wonderland chair. The Doctors clicked Execute.

Justin's life spilled out from his mind. He resisted: choice memories are removed: they will never find what they need.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

A younger Justin, probably fifth grade, hunkered down in his classroom next to his best friend, Mike. Their first real lock down in the making. Someone on campus, heavily armed. Security initiated.

Justin looked out the window, to see a face looking in. The face was that of an African-American man, bald, with black sunglasses. He was wearing a black trench coat, and holding a weapon in his hand. Justin made no noise, but could only look transfixed.

The man breathed on the window, creating a foggy spot. Into it, he wrote the word _Justin._ Justin blinked in confusion.

The man breathed again, this time writing _The truth is coming down._

Then he disappeared.

* * *

 **(Present day)**

Justin's eyes opened. He had strained against the straps, almost pulling them out. The doctors re-tightened the straps, before plunging in again.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

Seventh grade this time; Justin, Mike and Lena were eating in the cafeteria. They noticed, halfway across the room, someone mysterious.

He leaned against the wall, chatting amiably with a lunch lady. However, his eyes continued to cut back towards Justin. He was the same man!

* * *

 **(Present day)**

Resurfaced for the second time. Again, the doctors tightened his straps. However, one of them said "He's getting weaker. We should get all the memories soon enough."

Back in, again.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

Ninth grade Justin was sitting with Mike talking about girls.

"How do you feel about Lena?" asked Justin.

"Complete and absolute genius," said Mike. "Crowd of followers. Never gonna beat the two of us."

Justin and Mike both laughed.

"Hey, Justin," said Mike, "what kind of girls are you going for?"

"Hot ones," he responded. Mike laughed again.

"Wait a minute, that's not all I'm going for!" Justin protested, which only made Mike laugh harder.

"There's one out there, somewhere," said Justin. "I just haven't found her yet."

* * *

 **(Present day)**

"Success!" one of the doctors said. "Call in the Colonel."

The doctors left, and Justin remained strapped in. After about three minutes, Colonel Vosch came in.

"Cassiopeia Sullivan…" he said. "You hate Ben because this girl has feelings for him."

"Where is she?" Justin asked. "She must be on this base somewhere."

Vosch smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that whoever she is isn't here, Justin."

Justin looked confused. "Then you're a liar. You said the buses would return. The buses didn't return, did they?"

Vosch's smile disappeared. Then, realization dawned on Justin.

"They aren't the infested…" he said, "You're the infested!"

Justin yelled, attempting to rip from the straps.

Vosch's smile returned. "I'm afraid I will have to erase that memory, now."

"No!" yelled Justin. "No erasing!"

Vosch hit the erase button.

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena was worried about Justin. Dumbo assured her that he'd be okay, but he didn't look too confident.

After about a half hour, Justin and Mike walked back in.

"What happened?" asked Lena quickly.

"They ran Wonderland on me a few times, until they figured out why I hate Zombie, then they let me go."

"Weird…" said Lena.

* * *

 **(some time later)**

After that incident, they continued their training. Rather boring time, getting yelled at by Reznik and stuff. However, they managed to graduate first.

Tank went Dorothy, and no one knows what happened to him. Somehow, without him, they pulled through.

Mike was the ultimate physical specimen, strong as an ox. They pulled second in physical training because of him.

Justin and Poundcake, expert marksmen, trained Zombie in the way of the sharpshooter. The Squad ranked number one in shooting.

Dumbo and Lena were perfect medics. Pulled third in that category.

The warlike Teacup and enthusiastic Oompa got Squad 53 second in fighting spirit.

Conduct Befitting a Unit of the Armed Forces was saved by the dedicated Flintstone. They ranked second in that.

In pretty much everything else, the team ranked third.

Graduation was a bit over the top, but it worked. Afterwards, Zombie was promoted to Sergeant, and he told the group what they were going to do.

"We'll be dropped into a live combat zone," he said. "A nest of infesteds is located there. The mission will be dangerous as [censored]. We're doing it."

The Squad 53 hurrah (very creative, made by Mike,) went up.

"FOR THE FABRIC SOFTENERS!" they all yelled. Yep, that was the hurrah. They said it at the graduation, and for the first time, Vosch looked confused.

There was only one person sad about the arrangement. Sammy, or Nugget, the poor kid still had two years until he was old enough to go to war. Zombie tried to comfort him. Didn't work. They said goodbye, promising that they would come back.

* * *

 **Mike**

The chopper descended toward Dayton. Everyone got ready to hop and go.

The squad pulled down eyepieces, which would light up the Teds in a green fire. Mike would be able to see all.

The plan was made by one of those rare teamwork moments between Justin and Zombie. Oompa and Flinstone would move round the side of the building in which the infesteds were hiding out, where they could pull some sniper moves. Mike, Zombie and Teacup, the soldiers of the group, would attack the building from the front. Justin and Poundcake would head to the roofs and provide cover fire. Dumbo and Lena would go behind the three soldiers, healing up as much as they could.

Finally the chopper set down. "GO!" yelled the sarge, and Mike was off. Teacup and Zombie quickly formed ranks with him, and they moved to a quick position of cover.

Mike surveyed the area with his eyepiece. Three blobs of green fire lit up in the targeted building. He pointed. Zombie nodded.

The first shot rang out: Poundcake had targeted the building.

This was when the hard part came, the choice between siege and assault. All this would depend on if the Teds would come out or not. What they didn't account for was the sniper.

First shot came; blasted off a chunk of concrete above Mike's head. Zombie was yelling, Mike and Teacup scrambled to the side, ducking under a tanker truck.

Shots from outside: the kaboom of a sniper followed by the _pop-pop-pop_ of small arms fire. Mike crawled to the edge of the car, whipping out his M16. Scanned the yard. Determined the location of the shooter. He crawled through the brush, being extra careful that no one would find him. He had it close one time though. Someone thought they saw something, but he ducked in time. He then found the shooter on the roof.

Mike was astonished: the shooter was Reznik. He had no choice, so he blasted him off of the roof, in a hail of bullets and blood. Emptied his whole clip into him, and then some. He got a little carried away, but that was fun, he might be scarred for life. Reznik's head was shot of, his legs off, and a million holes in his body.

Mike yelled out. "Zombie, come check this out!"

Zombie ran towards the scene of the shooting.

"Whaaaaa… Reznik?" he said. "He was the sniper?"

"He was here to encourage us," said Mike. "Check his body."

Zombie got to work inspecting Reznik. Out of his pocket, he pulled a remote-looking thing.

"What's that?" asked Mike. Zombie just looked at it.

"Tracker," he said. "He could hunt us down. And I bet I know what this button was for."

Chills ran down Mike's arm. "That button can… kill us?"

Zombie nodded, quietly. "Something isn't right here…"

"Go get Lena- I mean, Upstart. She's smart," said Mike.

"Ya, she is." Zombie turned and started yelling out as loud as he could for Lena to come.

"Shut up, you idiot!" said Mike. "Do you want all the baddies to know where we are?"

"Oh, good point," said Zombie.

Lena came running, however, with Dumbo in tow. "What? What's going on? Is someone hurt? Oh…" she said, noticing Reznik's body.

"Yeah…" said Mike.

"What's going on here?" asked Dumbo.

"Well, Reznik just tried to shoot us dead, so Meatbag went all Clint Eastwood on him…" Zombie said.

"Reznik was shooting?" asked Lena. "Why was he here?"  
"We found this on him," said Mike, revealing the kill switch.

"What's that?" asked Justin.

"How'd you get here?" asked Lena.

"I snuck."

"Snuck is not a word," said Zombie.

"As if you would know," said Dumbo.

"Wait, shut up," said Lena. "Answer Justin's question."

"Kill switch," said Mike.

"He had a kill switch?" asked Dumbo. "Weird. Also, Pound Cake here."

"Ya he is," said Flintstone, who was also here somehow. "Where's Oompa?"

"Ya, where's Oompa?" asked Justin.

"Oompa? Oooooompaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?" yelled Zombie. He had a yelling problem.

Teacup was just standing there. Suddenly, she screamed "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?"

Mike was on the ground, holding his ears tight in the aftermath of Teacup's scream. "[censored] you, Teacup!" he said. "Now they all know where we are!"

"Get Down!" Justin Yelled. Most the crew got down, but Flintstone was shot like no other. Mike knew they were in front of him, and decided this was the moment.

Mike fished the batteries that Vosch had given him from his pocket, shoving it into the Changer. He spoke into the changer, "Iron wall in front of us," he ordered. The walls immediately appeared. "Now, we need guns, lots of guns, plasma, and lots of clips and bullets."

Those also appeared immediately. Mike grabbed two M60's, Justin an M60, Lena two skorpions, and the rest of them plasma AK-47s. There were also minigun turrets on the roof.

"Wait," Zombie said; "These are plasma! How? That hasn't even been invented yet!"

"In the Matrix," Mike said; "anything is possible. Everyone to your stations, you two, man the mini guns!" he pointed to Pound cake and Teacup, who rushed up the ladders.

"The rest of you, take your positions!" he ordered.

For a few seconds, there was silence, absolute silence. Everyone was sweaty, and itching to get revenge.

"Remember everyone," Justin said; "These shoot plasma, if you hit the guns, they will explode, so aim for the guns!"

"Oo-rah!" everyone said in unison.

"Here they come!" Teacup yelled.

"What do we do, there are too many of them!" Lena said.

"We fight," Mike answered.

Mike and Poundcake first fired their plasma miniguns. Mike was surprised how much power they had. Explosions were everywhere, and the rest of the crew just fired into the smoke not sure if they were really shooting anything.

After a while, Mike ordered them to stop firing. The smoke cleared, and one more man stood there on the hill. Mike had never expected them to survive. The guy held up a megaphone

"Get out of here, you sons of [censored]," he yelled. "We're just survivors! Leave us alone!"

"Meatbag," Zombie said, "Don't listen to him, he's an infested!"

"Yes, that is true," Mike accepted; "But we have something they don't, increase size to one-hundred feet high and seventy-five feet wide, make it like a castle, with many more minigun turrets, and four sniper towers," he said into the changer.

The walls rose above them, and guns randomly generated.

"This time," Mike said, "no one will die, and we will take home victory with us, and they will take defeat, utter defeat!"

"Yeah!" everyone yelled.

Each one grabbed a minigun turret, while Lean and three others took the sniper towers. And instantly the fortress was surrounded by smoke and fire. As a response, the soldier fired back. But average bullets were no match for plasma fire. The soldier literally didn't exist. He was just gone.

Zombie ran to Flintstone, who was coughing up blood as he lay on his stomach.

"Flint!' yelled Zombie.

"Zom-Zombie," said Flintstone, his voice cracking. "Forgive-forgive me."

"Why?" asked Zombie.

"I-I killed Oompa," said Flintstone.

"Wha- why?" asked Zombie.

Flint coughed up another wod. "I'm a Dorothy, Zombie, a Dorothy!"

And then he departed from them. There was a moment of silence to honor the two fallen. One a martyr. One a traitor.

"Flint was a Dorothy?" asked Dumbo.

"Seems that way," said Zombie.

"Meatbag," said Ben. "How- how?"

"I don't feel like explaining it right now, tell you later."

"We've finished the mission," said Justin. "I say we retrieve Oompa's body and give these two a proper burial."

"I say we do that, then figure out why Reznik was here," said Lena. Pragmatic girl.

"Agreed," said Zombie. "Poundcake, Teacup, go find Oompa. The rest of you, start digging."

And so they dug. They dug a deep grave, proper for dead soldiers. After about two hours, Teacup and Poundcake returned with the body of Oompa, placing it in the grave alongside his killer.

They marked it with a rock, engraved with the words "Brothers in Arms, Enemies in Death. We will Remember Flintstone and Oompa Forever."

* * *

 **Zombie**

Upstart didn't miss a beat, immediately turning the conversation back to Reznik.

"It makes sense that he could just be here to test our first combat mission. He might've just brought the Kill Switch in case something went horribly wrong."

"Something's not right," Ben said.

"Agreed," said Pillsbury.

That's when they all noticed a flash of green light. Ben whipped around, leveling the barrel of his plasma rifle on… Poundcake?

Poundcake had his back to them, to reveal the spot where he cut out his tracker.

"Unclean glows green," whispered Dumbo. "But Poundcake isn't unclean."

"Wait a second…" said Upstart, before turning to Pillsbury. "Cut out my tracker."

"What… why?" asked Pillsbury.

"I need to see something," she replied.

Ben kept his gun trained on Pound Cake, just in case, while he watched Pillsbury removing Upstart's tracker. Her head was suddenly surrounded by a halo of green fire.

"Aha!" said Meatbag. "It isn't an infested head that glows. It's the head of a non-implanted individual."

"Holy [censored]," I said, "Meatbag's right. That means…"

"Any of those guys could've been survivors," said Upstart.

We sat in silence for a moment, thinking.

"Why would they want us to shoot survivors?" asked Teacup.

"Maybe… maybe they're not the good guys," said Upstart.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"It's the 5th Wave, Ben," said Upstart. " _We're_ the 5th Wave."

 **End of Chapter Nine**


	10. Somehow, There's Beat Drops? WHAAAA!

**Lena**

Lena watched the realization dawn on the faces of Squad 53. The looks of horror that came upon each and every countenance. The appearance of terror.

"Simple and easy," Lena said. "Take all the young, gullible kids. Train them up for war. Put high-powered rifles in their hands. Send them into the world with eyepieces, to shoot everything in sight. Tell them that it's the only way to save humanity."

"We just got [censored]ed up," said Zombie. "[censored]ed up by the aliens."

"The Others have got us just where they want us," said Justin. "They don't need anyone here getting their hands dirty, when the kids who are the future can go out and kill the past."

"All those kids, they've been tricked," Lena said. "We need to save Nugget."

Poundcake nodded.

"The helicopter will be back in about one hour," said Dumbo. "We could head back, go save him."

"Good plan, except we'll need a real plan," said Lena. "And I'll be making it."

* * *

 **Justin**

Now, the plan was assembled. And it involved Justin and Zombie getting shot. Darn darn darny darn.

"Position the gun properly," said Dumbo to Poundcake. "Angle just like this…"

Poundcake shifted the gun around in Justin's side, waiting for the okay from Dumbo.

"I don't know how I feel about this…" Justin said.

"NOW!" yelled Dumbo.

The bullet entered Justin's side at point blank.

"Ow… ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!" yelled Justin, falling on the ground. Pound Cake walked over to Ben and did the same thing. He took it better, though. The sound of the returning chopper echoed through the surrounding town. Lena and Dumbo ran to Justin and Ben, and the chopper started descending. The rest of the group ran off into the woods.

Ben hoisted Justin to his feet, and they started running towards the copter.

"Go, go, go!" Ben yelled, jumping into the craft.

"What?" yelled the pilot.

"GO!" yelled Justin. Shots rang from the woods, Poundcake's bullets, ricocheting off the sides of the Black Hawk. The pilot pulled it up fast, ascending at the speed of light (not really, metaphoric). The pilot pulled over the woods, raining bullets down from the sky. Too late, by now the squad would be all gone.

* * *

 **Mike**

"What do we do now?" Mike asked.

"Didn't you hear the second most important part of the plan?!" Teacup asked annoyed.

"I think I did, but just in case, tell me the whole thing again I wasn't listening," he said quickly.

"Uhg! Fine," Teacup said, and explained the whole rest of the plan form start to finish. "Any questions? Or do I need to repeat everything again?!"

"Ya, I have a question," said Mike. "Can you repeat everything again?"

Teacup whipped out her M16 and aimed it at Mike.

"NO NO NO, nevermind, don't shoot me!" said Mike.

"Good, I don't wanna waste bullets," said Teacup.

She then proceeded to repeat the plan. "Dumbo, Upstart, Zombie and Pillsbury head back. Our fighters Pillsbury and Zombie are shot so they end up in the hospital. Our smart people Lena and Dumbo keep Vosch occupied in the debriefing room while Pillsbury and Zombie escape the hospital, strike into the base, find Nugget, and save him. Poundcake heads back on that one operational humvee…"

"What operational humvee?" asked Mike. "I didn't know there was an operational humvee."

"None of us did," said Teacup. "We just found it."

"Okay, go on," said Mike.

"Poundcake heads back on the operational humvee to pick up the team in the escape, and they come to the rendezvous at the hill up north."

"Okay, so we're headed for the rendezvous?" asked Mike.

"Yep," said Teacup.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? We need to get back Sammy," he said loudly.

 _And Justin, Lena, and I need to get home,_ he thought to himself.

* * *

After about five hours, they arrived at the rendezvous.

"Let's build a log cabin, be comfortable?" asked Teacup.

"Yeah," Mike agreed; "but won't we need to move again, at some point?"

"Not necessarily, maybe... Some other survivor can have it if we _do_ move," she responded.

"Okay, let's make a cabin then, super cozy like," he agreed again.

Mike began to fashion some tools out of random sticks, rocks and other gear, while Teacup kept watch. It took awhile, but eventually he finished. He and Teacup started to cut, cut, cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut **EPIC CUTTING BEAT DROP!** (Cue the epic dubstep, like Skrillex or something like that).

* * *

 **Lena**

The helicopter was descending now, descending onto the helipad of Camp Haven. Lena and Dumbo had applied bandages to Zombie's and Justin's bullet wounds, but they were both soaked with blood.

Soon, the medics had shown up. Zombie and Justin were put onto stretchers and carted off to the hospital, though Justin was trying to not believe really hard, so that way the wound would still be there, and not go away.

A small car pulled up to the chopper, with Vosch sitting in the passenger seat.

"Hello Lena, and James," said Vosch. "Come, get in the car. It's time for debriefing."

Lena and Dumbo got in the back seats, and the soldier-alien driving started to head for the HQ.

They pulled up to HQ, and Vosch jumped out of the car. Dumbo and Lena followed. They entered the place, quick-stepping to Colonel's office.

They sat down in chairs facing the desk. Vosch slid behind it and sat down.

"So," said Vosch, "so, so, so…"

Dumbo looked confused.

"Um, so, will you stop saying 'so' already and get to the point!" he said a little annoyed.

"You have no right to be annoyed, James," said Vosch.

"Uh, okay…" said Dumbo.

"You guys… have caused problems," said Vosch. "Cutting out trackers… killing your drill instructor… what happened out there?"

"Reznik was shooting a sniper rifle at us," said Lena. "He dropped something, and we suspected it was a kill switch to save himself if we were about to shoot him. We cut out our trackers in case he had a spare."

"Mmm hmm," said Vosch. "And I assume you killed Reznik shortly after?"

"Yes," said Lena.

"Mmm hmm."

* * *

 **Justin**

The hospital. Two hours. That's what the assistant said.

"Alright, Ben," said Justin. "Let's go."

 _Believe,_ Justin thought to himself. _Believe._

The bullet in his flesh dissolved. The wound resealed. The dressings and sutures fell out. Justin rose to his feet, hoisting up Zombie.

"Hey!" yelled Kistner, the medic doctor guy. "What are you two doing up out of bed, your bullet wounds still need healing!" Kistner yelled.

"We um, ah, we had to do stuff," Justin stalled

"Like what?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, um, you see..."

While Justin was stalling, he slowly griped a heavy thing, he didn't know what it was, but he knew it would knock him out cold.

The nurse saw him, and said "Hey, what are you doing? You put that down!"

"Okay," he said, and started to put it down; "After I do this!" and he brought it down on him, like it was a video game. There was a loud crack, followed by a heavy crash.

Justin heard shouts and running footsteps.

"Hide!" he told Ben.

"What about you?" he responded.

"I have a plan."

"Hopefully one that won't get you annihilated," he mumbled, and hid under a bed.

The Doctors came in, asking all sorts of questions, like why Kistner was on the ground, and why they were out of their bed, and where the crap Ben was.

"Well…" Justin started. Then, he banged them all on the head, as if they were bowling pins. It was a lot of fun he had to admit, and all five down in less than thirty seconds.

"Okay Ben, you can come out now!"

Ben came out, coughing. "You should go under there, I counted at least twenty different kinds of bugs, hopefully none were aliens."

"Why would the aliens become bugs, bugs are so lame, puny, and can't do anything."

"They freak the [censored] out of me, though!" said Ben.

"Oh," Justin said, "Like this?" And he held one up right to his head. Ben fell on the seat of his pants and ran up to Justin's bed.

"Put that mother[censored]ing bug away, or better yet kill it!"

"Ha, Ben, saver of two souls, amazing leader, yet you is scared of a tiny little bug! HA!" mocked Justin.

"It's not funny, now let's focus on the mission at hand, and not fool around!" said Ben.

Justin agreed, somehow. They crept out the door, and moved through the hospital. Luckily, everyone was too busy to notice them.

Justin shoved open a door, stepping into the hallway. He had memorized the map perfectly. Now to find Sammy.

The two pals ran down the hall taking left, right, left, right, left right left right left right left right, leftrightleftrightleft rite **EPIC LEFT RIGHT BEAT DROP!** (Cue the epic dubstep, like maybe NIGHTkilla or something).

Finally, after the song ended, they reached the door and arrived at the barracks.

"Now, we creep through this place like a bunch of idiots until we find Sammy," said Justin. Then, the alarm went off.

* * *

 **Lena**

Just as Vosch was going to ask the next question, the alarm went off. Vosch jumped to his feet. "You guys know the drill, get down there!"

Probably a good idea. Lena and Dumbo sprinted to the stairs going down. They trotted down with the rest of the group, before Lena noticed a familiar face.

Cassie was running down with other recruits, toting an M16 and wearing a typical 5th Waver uniform. "Cassie!" Lena called, but Cassie didn't here her. She disappeared into a crowd, heading a different direction.

Lena tried to follow her, but Dumbo pulled her back on track to where she needed to be. The mission wasn't to save Cassie. It was to save Sams.

Lena knew that there would be a safe-room where the little kids would be. She headed that way.

* * *

 **Ben Parish**

Aha! Wonderful! That made it easier. Now, rather than searching the whole barracks for a little five year old among many, we could just go to the kid safe room and find Nugget easily.

Ben and Justin sprinted instead to the stairwell, where other kids from the barracks descended to safety. They managed to disappear into the crowds. Then, the first blast hit.

Flew down the stairs. Crashed into the wall. Ended up in a heap.

"[censored 3x]!" yelled Pillsbury.

"Watch your mouth!" Ben yelled, before another kid crashed into him. "[censored]!"

"Idiot…" said Pillsbury. They got up, continuing to struggle against the tide.

"Stick to the little kids," said Pillsbury. "They'll lead us to the safe room."

The two followed a group of six-year olds down a hallway, taking the right, left, right, left, okay you get the idea, ya know, it gets faster and faster and then there's a beat drop and some amazing dubstep starts playing…

Finally they arrived at the safe room, and saw…

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena and Dumbo peeled off down the stairs to the safe room for the little kids, when they found the body.

An officer, it seemed. Three bullet wounds in his heart.

"Another intruder? Or…" Dumbo said. Lena understood. Was it Zombie and Justin?

The two squadmates passed the body and struck out down the corridor. They continued following the cries of young children, and pushed open a door into an infinite sea of faces.

* * *

 **Ben Parish's First Person POV**

… a man in a black tuxedo, with black hair, black sunglasses, and a wicked looking Desert Eagle. He ran at Pillsbury, tackling him to the ground. Ben yelled out, and heard Pillsbury yelling "GO GET NUGGET! I'LL HANDLE THIS CHUMP!"

He struck out into the crowd of five and six year old children: there he was. There was Nugget. But he was with another recruit. He was wearing the uniform of a graduated squad member. He had a long brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes. He was armed. He was innocent. He was toast.

* * *

 **Justin**

The Agent flew across the room, slamming into Justin and tackling him into the floor. He heard Ben cry out, before yelling "GO GET NUGGET! I'LL HANDLE THIS CHUMP!"

He heard Ben take off for the children. The agent gripped his deagle, placing it to the side of Justin's head. He braced himself for the bullet's impact, and it glanced off his head.

The agent was stunned for just a moment, long enough for Justin to kick with both legs, sending the agent flying into the ceiling with a crash. Justin rolled to the side just in time for the Agent to hit the floor where he had been lying just a moment before.

The Agent was back on his feet a moment later, flying at Justin and attacking in the style of a martial artist. Justin blocked two punches, but the forward kick sent him into a wall. The agent fired a few times with his deagle, but none of them penetrated Justin's skin.

 _This is gonna be a long fight,_ Justin thought to himself.

* * *

 **Lena**

The room was in a state of turmoil. To Lena's left was Justin, engaged in a furious bout with an Agent. To her right was Zombie, leveling his rifle at Cassie. Sammy stood by Cassie, watching the events happen in slow motion.

Before she knew it, Lena had jumped across the room, flying between Cassie and Zombie.

"Don't shoot!" she yelled to Zombie.

"Zombie!" said Sammy, the innocent kid he was. "Hi. This is Cassie, my sister."

Zombie looked amazed. Lena knew that Sammy had told Zombie about Cassie before, but Zombie had suspected that she was dead.

"Put the gun down, Cassie!" Lena said. "You too, Zombie."

"She's a soldier now," said Sammy.

"They've lied to you," said Zombie. "They're the-"

"I know that," Cassie snapped. "How do you know that?"

Ben looked totally addlepated (old English word, means confused. Don't judge the nerdy writer). She cut off his bombshell.

 _KA-RASH!_ Big noise behind Lena, who turned around on a dime. The agent (who Lena had totally forgotten about) was _in_ the floor, slammed there from sort of terrible fall. Dumbo proceeded to empty his clip into the agent's back.

"What was that?" asked Dumbo. "That guy was like, invincible."

"He is," said Lena. "Guys, he'll be getting up in a couple seconds. Follow me."

Squad 53 didn't ask questions. Cassie did.

"Why is Ben Parish here?" she asked.

"Because he is, now get a move on," said Ben Parish, speaking of himself in third person .

Lena hoofed it into the hallway, the squad following behind. She smacked right into Vosch solid chest.

* * *

 **Cassie Sullivan**

"Hello, Lena," he said. "You weren't supposed to leave until I told you."

Silencer-soldiers stepped from the walls, like peels from bananas. Two of them grabbed Sammy's shoulders, and marched him off to who knows where. Probaby back to the plane, to go far away. They then bound the group's hands, and marched them off at gunpoint.

After another left right beat drop, they arrived in the execution room, where the false Others were imprisoned and killed over and over again by kids.

The Silencers shoved cassie down into a chair, and Vosch stepped to the mirror in the death chamber.

"Excellent plan, Lena," he said. "It would have pulled off easily. Here, in this room, you could have made good excuses, and I would've believed them. You're smart. You could do it with almost no effort."

"Then why did you find out?" asked Lena. " _How_ did you?"

"The flaw in the plan," said Vosch. "The entry point of the bullets. You didn't think that it would be suspicious that the bullets entered at the exact same point in the body, and didn't touch any important organs? Personally, anyone would have found that to be suspicious."

Cassie agreed. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she still agreed.

Vosch addressed me next. "I will probably kill you all, unless you tell me who the traitor is."

"What traitor?" Cassie asked.

"You know who it is," said Vosch. "The one who killed the sentries. It couldn't have been any of these people. They aren't cold-blooded killers like my Silencers."

Truth is, Cassie did know who he was talking about. He meant Evan Walker, _her_ Silencer. _Her_ cold-blooded killer. (haha! A plot twist! One that everyone expected! Reading back through Part One of this is making me cringe so hard. Trust me, Part Two is much better).

"How about this," Vosch said. "You tell me, and your brother lives."

The mirror wasn't opaque anymore. It became transparent, revealing Sammy strapped into the execution chair. A soldier stood next to him.

"Tell me now," said Vosch.

"[censored] you," Cassie said.

Vosch slammed down on the button, with rage in his eyes.

* * *

 **Justin**

Cassie lept forth from her chair, preparing to tear Vosch's eyes out. What she didn't see was that Sammy was alive in the chair, sobbing buckets but alive, and she didn't see the big _Oops_ on the computer screen.

Justin's arm shot out, and Cassie bounced off of it back into her chair as easily as a bouncy ball that bounces super hard, like the best bouncy ball ever in the history of bounce (what is even happening anymore). She looked mad for a second, before she noticed what had happened and started laughing.

"Argh!" said Vosch. "He'll cut the power next. Don't let them leave!"

He dashed from the room.

Justin sat still for a moment. Truth is, he was doing math in his brain, comparing the ballistics of him and the nearest soldier.

Time to strike! Justin leaped up, twirling into a backflip and slamming his chair into the nearest soldier's face. While all the guns turned towards him, the rest of the squad started smacking the other soldiers with their chairs!

The soldiers were all dead.

"Hello in there?" yelled a voice. "Um…"

"Evan!" yelled Cassie. Then, a single thump came from the vent. Cassie started laughing hysterically.

"Yes, Evan, you can come in," said Cassie.

Big scary guy jumped from the vent, and landed on the floor. He and Cassie immediately started making out.

 _What the [censored],_ Justin thought to himself. _First, Ben Parish, then this "Evan"?_

Cassie and Evan makked out for like five minutes while everyone (except Justin) politely looked away.

"What was that!" Ben yelled; "It was gross, if you guys don't want any part in this, you can go die in a hole!" he then did the floss because he felt like it. (and he could do it at lightning speed).

"Rude," said the big guy. "Don't be rude. I don't like rude people. We need to stop being rude. We need to escape!"

Sammy just sort of blinked. Justin's brain, however, was working hard on doing stuff.

"Does anyone have a battery, or a charger?" Justin asked hopeful

"What for?" Cassie asked.

"My Changer, you don't know about it though, you didn't see us take down an entire army," said Justin.

"If you call three people an entire army, " corrected Lena.

"No, I don't think there are any batteries or chargers," said Ben.

"Then we'll have to find some, a lifetime supply, once I get one battery," Justin ensured; "Though we need Mike, because he's the only one who seems to know how to use it."

"Whatever you say doc," Cassie told him

 _Why, Evan?_ Thought Justin to himself. _Why must Cassie like you?_

Evan looked around him. "You need a battery?"

"Ya," said Justin.

"I know where to find one," said Evan. "I also need to blow up this base."

"What?" asked Lena. "Why?"

"Um, so I can hopefully kill Vosch," said Evan. "I'm about to cut the power, then I'm heading to the armory to blow this place to [censored] with green bombs."

"Green bombs?" Dumbo asked.

"Um, isn't Vosch already doing that?" asked Cassie.

"Only the parts he doesn't need," said Evan.

"Um, Evan?" said Justin. "We don't need to get the so-called "green bombs" from the armory. I have this." Justin whipped out the Changer.

"This is a special thing, hard to explain…" said Justin.

"I know what it is," said Evan. "It can make changes in the Matrix."

Silence for a second.

"How do you know about the Matrix?" asked Lena.

"I just do," said Evan.

"What's the Matrix?" asked Ben, confused.

"Don't tell me you believe in that, too!" said Cassie, referencing Evan.

"I'm confused," said Dumbo.

"Well, here is a quick explanation," Justin answered. "Before the Matrix became real, you have been living in a dreamworld, a fake world, so the machines can change a human being, into this," a gong noise sounded, and Justin held up the dead battery.

"So you need a battery," said Evan. "However, we are surrounded by batteries."

"We can't use them," said Justin. "Just- just get me a real battery."

"Well I'm still confused," Dumbo answered.

"Nothing is real in the Matrix, my man," said Evan

"Evan, where can I get a battery?" asked Justin.

"I'll take you," said Evan. "The rest of you, do whatever escape plan you had. We'll meet you at whatever rendezvous you've set up."

Sammy kept blinking, faster this time. Then he yelled, "Can someone get me out of this chair before someone pulls the plug?"

"Ya know, that's a good idea," said Cassie who started pulling Sammy free.

"Take me to battery land!" said Justin. "We can summon some bombs with the Changer, then get out!"

"How're you guys gonna get out?" said Cassie. "What if you die? I don't want Evan to die."

 _Gee, thanks,_ said Justin. _She doesn't want_ Evan _to die, but me? Now I'm a totally different story._

"And Justin, I guess," said Cassie. Sometimes Justin think she can read minds.

"We'll use the escape pods," said Evan.

"Escape pods? Like in Star Wars?" said Sam. "I want to go escape with you."

"No, Sams," said Cassie. "You have to come with us."

* * *

 **Random Author's Note:** Once again, seeing as Part One of this is basically just a copy of the 5th Wave plot, and the only parts that matter are parts that are different, the actual escape part with everyone else will not be covered in TAAO.

* * *

 **Evan Walker**

Evan turned to Justin (nice name, my man) and started to run past him at top speed. Good luck keeping up with a Silencer. Justin huffed and puffed, and fell behind, and Evan had to slow down as we dashed through the halls.

"[censored], your fast," said Justin.

"I agree," Evan replied.

They kept running through the halls taking left, right, okay you know the drill. When the song ended, the two acquaintances arrived at the power plant.

Two soldiers leveled their AK-47s and Justin took all the bullets. Evan thought he was going to die, then, what he saw was unthinkable. Justin walked forward, with bullets penetrating him. Then, he was punched in the face, and knocked out cold

Evan took this as a great opportunity, and ran at them while they were distracted. Evan took one's gun, then lit them both up like it was a video game, It was fun.

"Justin, you alright?" Evan asked and gave him a hand.

"Yeah," he said; "What happened?"

"The real question is, is how did you do that?" Evan questioned, "I've never seen anyone able to take that many bullets and stay alive, much less walk towards them!"

"It's just something I can do, Neo could dodge and freeze bullets," Justin replied.

"If you could, I probably could," Evan decided

"The first step is to let it all go, once we defeat the aliens, this place could go back to fake."

"I thought that could happen," Evan said.

"Why are we standing here talking," said Justin, "When we need to get a battery?"

"Good point," Evan replied.

They pushed open the door, popping into the power plant. Most of the energy from the plant was stored in digital batteries, he knew that. However, there was a backup cache, containing several small batteries. Vosch was obsessed with the security of his backup batteries, placing them in the hardest-to-reach part of the power plant. He also established an alien locking mechanism on the batteries to ensure that petty thieves couldn't make off with his backup stash. Upon removing a battery, it would sense your DNA and put up an invisible force field that no one with your DNA could get past.

Thanks to that system, Justin and Evan would be able to get two batteries, which meant twenty items from the Changer. They really only needed about five bombs, which meant fifteen extra items.

They ran into the plant, taking out the occasional soldier as we went. "Justin!" Evan yelled. "Ima cut the power. Can you see in the dark?"

"Whaddya think?" he yelled back. "Can you?"

"Yes!" Evan replied. Then, he cut the power.

The place was drowned in dark, for Justin. However, Evan could see with his alien enhanced eyes.

"[censored] you, Evan," said Justin.

"I'm glad our friendship has gotten off on the right foot," Evan replied. "Grab my hand."

Justin stumbled toward Evan, when he spotted it.

"DOWN!" Evan yelled, flinging himself toward Justin. The soldier at the end of the hall opened up with his mounted chaingun. Evan grabbed Justin and pulled him around the corner to safety behind cover.

"Dude, I could've survived that!" he said, "my power power!"

"I'm pretty sure it would've been very difficult, and in order to believe that much, you use a lot of energy," Evan replied. "Don't over exert yourself, or you'll die."

Bullets from the chaingun ricocheted off the corner they were hiding behind, which gave Evan an idea. He raised his sniper, targeting the wall, doing some math in his head. Then, he pulled the trigger.

The bullet ricocheted off of the other wall, and the two associates heard a yell of pain from around the corner. Excellent.

Justin and Evan dashed out, and Evan ripped the chaingun from it's stand. He tossed his rifle to Justin, who caught it, and lifted the heavy weapon.

"This is gonna be fun!" said Justin, eyeing the colossal thing.

"Ya it is," Evan said back. They heard the shouts of soldiers around the corner, and when they emerged, Evan opened fire.

A storm of steel flew down the hallway, cutting down the soldiers. Nine out of ten soldiers were dead, while the other one popped a grenade. Evan caught it, pressing it against his chest, and fell on my front.

The explosion didn't exactly hurt, it just felt weird. The pressure beneath it, followed by the pricking of shrapnel entering his body. Evan heard Justin cry out, before he fired his rifle. Quickly, Evan stood up.

"Second grenade I've taken recently," Evan said casually.

"You freak me out," said Justin. "You just take grenades for people on a whim."

"I thought you had the power to believe," Evan responded.

"Uh… whatever that means," said Justin.

"I read your Wonderland profile," Evan said.

"What does that… wait WHAT?!" Justin yelled indignantly.

"You're in love with Cassie," Evan said. "You have the power to believe and absorb all damage."

"Ya…" said Justin.

"You're in love with Cassie, and that's why you hate me and Ben," Evan said. "But Ben doesn't love Cassie, so why do you hate him?"

"He doesn't?"

"People who hate each other don't work well together," Evan said.

"Well, we seemed to work together just fine," said Justin.

"Which means you don't hate me," Evan said.

"But I do… are you just trying to distract me from figuring out what's different about you?" said Justin

"Pretty much," Evan responded, while taking pieces of shrapnel out of his chest. Casually, of course.

* * *

 **Mike**

It took a lot of work, but with his strength, it was a piece of cake. The Cabin was all done on the outside, and Teacup was making little chairs inside.

"Ah, this looks nice," Mike said as he fell down on a chair, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"Yeah, now, we just wait for orders," Teacup said, "If things are going well, we should be out of here in a few hours."

"Hopefully things are going well, if I had my Changer I could have a gaming system right now," Mike said

"But there's no power," said Teacup.

"I know that, but if I had a battery."

"Yeah, and what is that thing?" asked Teacup disdainfully (why was she disdainful? It's because I wanted a long word, don't judge me.)

"My Changer? It can change things in the Matrix, you could have whatever you wanted, even things that don't exist."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Sure," Mike said. He was about to tell, when a piece of paper slid out of his dead phone.

"What… how?" Teacup asked. "Phone no work."

"No idea," Mike replied. He read the paper.

"Morpheus needs us," Mike told her. "He still lives."

* * *

 **Morpheus**

"Let's hope he got the message," Morpheus said to Zhantov

"Yes sir, but, say he does get the message, then what?" he asked.

"Then, we need to get back to my ship, and go into the Matrix, we just need a crew to operate it, and backup," he said.

"How many are we talking here?" Zhantov questioned

"Let's see, umm," Morpheus looked thoughtful, mumbling to himself to calculate how many they would need.

"Well, how many!?" Zhantov asked/yelled

"About seven-to-ten crew members," Morpheus confirmed

"Where would we get them?"

"We need to make it to Zion."

"Alright then, let's go on an adventure!" said Zhantov.

"Zhantov, let's hijack a sentinel," said Morpheus.

"Why, you can fly and I can run?"

"Because it's cooler that way," said Morpheus.

Zhantov signed. Morpheus punched a sentinel and knocked it out. He then woke it up and gave it some food, and tamed it (because that's how Sentinels work). They got on and flew up.

Morpheus and Zhantov headed down to Zion. They headed deep below the earth, until they were almost at the core. Soon, they arrived at the gates. Morpheus had to inset the codes, then it was smooth sailing from there. Everyone was busy, but looked sort of sad as well. Neo's loss had taken a great toll.

Morpheus and Zhantov strode into town, and Morpheus came to the **Place of Announcement**. He hit the **Button of Calling** , and citizens flocked into the square. He motioned for Zhantov to head into the hangar and prep his ship. The wiry redhead ran off down into the tunnels.

"HELLO, CITIZENS!" Morpheus yelled into the **Megaphone of "Everybody Listen Up!"**.

The citizens all listened up.

"Everyone, I'm the One, now," said Morpheus. "The Matrix somehow spilled over into the Real World. We can now all use our Matrix powers out here. Okay?"

All the people started yelling and throwing tomatoes at Morpheus. They caught him by surprise, and it was too late to block them: all of a sudden, Morpheus was on the ground, covered in tomato stuff.

"Why don't you want me to be the One?" asked Morpheus.

"Because," an angry one said, "you can't be the One! You're not cool enough!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Everyone said in agreement.

"Why not?"

"Because the One means peace!" another citizen yelled. "We don't want peace! We want to destroy the machines!

"And, the Oracle didn't tell you if you were the One!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

They threw more tomatoes, but this time, Morpheus was ready. He thrust out his hand, and all the tomatoes froze in mid air in front of him.

"Boooooo!" one shouted, "you must have used twicks and meeshchief!"

"You talk like you're two!" Zhantov yelled back as he emerged from the tunnels, and then he jumped and tackled him.

"GASP!" yelled the crowd, as skinny Zhantov wrestled with the big bulky guy. Morpheus watched helplessly as Zhantov was lifted into the air by his shirt collar and thrown thirty feet.

"NO!" Morpheus yelled, and then tackled the man himself, this time throwing him eighty feet. The man did a death.

"GASP!" yelled the crowd again.

"Rebels!" yelled Morpheus. The Zionite Police came with their harmless air-pressure rifles, and started blasting the angry mob. The Riot Police also came, and helped clean up. Paramedics came and medivaced Zhantov to the hospital.

* * *

 **"** **What was that?" Morpheus asked his blonde intelligence officer Maelstrom a few hours later.**

"That mob was stirred up by three men who are very much anti-you," she replied. "Also, you need a replacement Head of Security, since Archangel is gone."

"I do…" said Morpheus. "Who are those three men?"

"Necro, CEO of the United Free Bankers," Maelstrom said, holding up a picture of a snooty looking gentleman in a tuxedo. His hair was slicked back, and his eyes were a nasty-looking green.

"We also have Xinchen, former President of Zion and still an active politician." Maelstrom held up another photo of a fiery-looking african man with the glazed eyes of a blind person.

"I remember him," said Morpheus. "I ran against him last election."

"Yes you did, and our last man is Nightkiller, an elite commando in the resistance." The last picture was of a hispanic man with two large scars on his face and a Scorpion in each hand.

"Can we arrest these people?" said Morpheus.

"No, we can't, because they haven't officially committed a crime," said Maelstrom.

"Well that really sucks!" said Morpheus.

"Who do you want as your Head of Security?" asked Maelstrom. Back to business.

"I'll talk about it with Zhantov later. Also, I need you to go on an errand with me in a few days," said Morpheus.

"And what's that?"

"Matrix mission."

 **End of Chapter Ten**


	11. When Rendezvous Attack

**Justin**

Just as Justin was gonna ask the unanswerable question, Evan took off down the hall, toting his chaingun and yet somehow moving very quickly.

"Wait up!" yelled Justin.

"We've got some distance until we reach the battery stash," said Evan. "Go faster."

 _Geez Evan,_ Justin thought to himself, _I'm not a superfreak who can run forty miles per hour._

Evan obviously could see that Justin was struggling to keep up (I would be too!), so he stopped.

"Ima make a sled," said Evan. "I'll pull the sled, you ride it."

"Uh, sure," said Justin.

"Which means I'm gonna have to leave Old Bess behind," said Evan, "but we'll move a lot faster."

"Works for me," said Justin.

Evan ripped out part of the wall, then tore a wire out of a socket. He strapped the wire around his waist, and tied it off to the piece of wall. Justin climbed on, and Evan took off, as he yelled "Hold on!"

Exhilaration set it, as Evan whipped around corners and Justin nearly flew off. Very exciting! Very fun!

Many soldiers were standing guard, but Evan just whipped past them and paid them no heed. Many of them looked confused, and Justin took many mental photos of their hilarious expressions. Ha ha ha! You're confused, Mr. Soldier!

All of a sudden, Evan quit running. Inertia carried Justin and his sled forward, slamming under Evan. Justin rolled to the side, as Evan fell down right on top of the sled.

"Up," said Evan. Justin jumped to his feet to see a massive pile of batteries. Evan reached in and grabbed a battery. Justin did the same.

"Twenty items, my man!" said Justin. "You choose ten, I choose ten."

Justin popped in the battery. "I want five alien bombs and five packs of pillsbury crescent rolls!" and it was done.

Evan grabbed the changer and said, "I want ten batteries!"

And it was done.

Evan then popped in the ten batteries. "I want a hundred alien bombs!" he yelled. And then, they had one hundred and five alien bombs.

"We're gonna blast this place to itsy bitsies!" said Evan. He triggered the countdown on the bombs.

"Alright, we need to head up the maintenance shaft to reach HQ and get the escape pod," said Evan.

"Kay…." said Justin, But first he grabbed 10 more batteries and put them in his pants. Evan dashed to the wall and pulled open a secret door that no one knew about. He scrambled up a chimney-looking thing. Justin followed, shutting the door behind him.

Up and up they went, never stopping for a break. They climbed for about four minutes straight (may not sound like a long time, but it is if you're going straight up in pitch blackness). Finally, though, we reached command.

Evan popped out quickly, and Justin followed close behind. Three soldiers in the room were surprised and taken down quickly. Two more dived behind a console.

"Don't worry about them," Evan yelled. "We need to get out of here!"

The first blast sounded. [censored]. Evan ran around a corner, and Justin barreled after him. A bullet struck Justin in the back, but it didn't matter to him. He turned and fired his TAC-45s at two approaching soldiers. However, these ones did not go down quickly. Instead, they absorbed his bullets and flew at him firing like mad. Justin hit the ground and rolled into a corner, emptying the rest of his clip into one's side. It dropped dead.

Meanwhile, the other soldier grabbed Justin and twisted him into a full nelson. Justin yelped, and the soldier slammed him into the ground.

Justin looked up to see the soldier above him, arm raised for the killing blow. All of a sudden, his head was blasted apart by Evan's bullet from down the hall.

"Come on!" yelled Evan, and Justin got up to follow him. They dived into an escape pod. "Justin, which way are we launching?" asked Evan.

"As far to the west as you can get," said Justin. "Try to clear Dayton."

Evan punched it, and just in time too! Another bomb went off, plunging HQ into the earth.

The pod flew through the air, arcing over the base. Camp Haven was being sucked into the ground, into a vortex of death that pulled all the ground into it. Justin could just see the humvee that he was supposed to be riding driving into the woods. The pod flew overhead.

After about an hour of awkwardly sitting in the cramped pod with Evan, the pod finally reached max distance. It had blown a little of course, and the parachute deployed while the pod was about three miles to the North West of Dayton. The pod landed with a soft _plunk!_ Good, no malfunctions.

Justin and Evan spilled out of the craft onto the ground, exhausted.

"Whaddya say we camp here for a day?" said Evan.

"Good idea," Justin replied, and immediately fell asleep.

When Justin opened his eyes, it seemed like he had never slept. The moon was in the exact same place in the sky, and the air was around the same temperature. Evan was up however, and bustling about.

Justin sat up and asked drowsily, "How long did I sleep?"

"About twenty-four hours," said Evan. That explains it.

"How long did you sleep, Evan?" Justin asked.

"Almost twenty-four hours," he said. "We need to get moving. But first, we need food."

Evan grabbed a pack of pillsbury crescents (one of the ones that Justin summoned), and started a campfire. While Justin stretched and stuff, Evan fashioned a homemade pan and put the crescents on.

Evan and Justin sat for about twenty minutes, talking about random [censored], while the crescents cooked. Justin learned that most of Evan's family had been killed by the plague, and that he used to live on a farm. Interesting.

When the crescents were done, Evan melted down a couple cheese sticks to be butter. They ate their crescents and gained all the energy they needed for the long walk.

"At your pace, it should be about a day's going before we reach the rendezvous," said Justin. "We can get another sled, ya know, and do that."

Evan nodded, before ripping off a large piece of metal from the pod. Justin strapped in, using some random wires from the pod, and Evan tied down the four packages of crescents before he took off.

 **ENGAGE EPIC TRAVEL MONTAGE 4000!**

 **(One Day Later)**

"Alright Evan," yelled Justin from his seat. "Stop running, we're at the rendezvous!"

"We are?" said Evan, stopping.

"Yes," Justin replied. He got up and walked through the trees to the hill that was the rendezvous. But… wait. On the hill was… a log cabin?

 **Morpheus**

Morpheus walked into Zhantov's hospital room, where the aforementioned Vice President was sitting up in bed playing Geometry Dash on a 240Hz tablet.

"Uh, Zhantov?" said Morpheus. Zhantov held up a finger.

About thirty seconds later, Zhantov screamed "YES! I BEAT BLOODBATH! HOLY [ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeensoooooooooooooooooooooooreeeeeeeeeeed]!"

"Zhantov!" said Morpheus. "How did you get a 240Hz tablet?"

"AHA!" yelled a voice. A dutch guy ran in, waving a gopro.

"Ha ha ha! MiGhosti, today is the day you get exposed!" yelled the dutch guy again, running up for a close-up of Zhantov's face.

"Um… Zhantov?" asked Morpheus, "who is this?"

"It's my archnemesis, Knobbelboy," said Zhantov.

"First of all Bloodbath is impossible on 240Hz, there's a bug, so you must be a haxxor!" yelled Knobbelboy.

"Knobbelboy, listen-"

"Second of all, they don't sell 240Hz tablets, so that's just Clickbait BS!" yelled Knobbelboy again.

"Knobbelboy, Knobbelboy-"

"AAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!" Knobbelboy screamed, "this exposing video is gonna get more views than my Bloodlust verification!"

"Knobbelboy, can you please shut-"

"I'm gonna make a ridiculously disgusting amount of money!" he yelled euphorically. "WOOOO-"

"KNOBBELBOY, EVERYONE KNOWS I'M A HACKER!"

Knobbelboy froze mid-yell of excitement, and his face fell. "Oh ya…. Forgot about that…" said Knobbelboy. "Well, I guess I'd better go beat Niflheim now…." Knobbelboy ran out of the room.

"Seriously, Zhantov," said Morpheus, "how'd you get a 240Hz tablet?"

"I bought it," said Zhantov, putting it away, back to business. "What is it, Morpheus?"

"We need to hire a new Head of Security," said Morpheus.

"Ah, yes," said Zhantov. "I've been thinking about that, and I found two possible choices."

"And those are?"

Zhantov held up two names on pieces of paper: General Bakhtov, a member of the Tov Dynasty like Zhantov; and Captain Soulreach.

"Take Bakhtov," said Morpheus, "I trust any man in the Tov Dynasty more than anyone else."

"Okay," said Zhantov. "I'm walking in two days, we can like, do something in two days."

"I think I should convene a meeting of the Morpheus Administration in two days," said Morpheus, "and we can do stuff."

"Kay," said Zhantov. "See you then."

 **(Two days later)**

Morpheus was sitting at a mahogany table (how they got mahogany in a world with no trees, I will never know.), along with the rest of his administration. There was Vice President Zhantov to his immediate right, and the new Head of Security Bakhtov to his immediate left. Around the circle in this order, starting from Bakhtov, were the other members of the cabinet: Head of Intelligence Maelstrom, Head of Law Enforcement Crikey, Head of the Military Ophinius, and Head of Civil Existence Pintar.

"I officially convene a meeting of the administration," said Morpheus.

"Why are we meeting?" asked Ophinius.

"We are here to do two things: inaugurate General Bakhtov and arrange a Rescue Mission in the Matrix," Morpheus replied.

"Well, let's get inaugurating then!" said Ephintar.

Morpheus turned on his favorite song (The Maze of Mayonnaise), and everyone did the Dance of Inauguration. Then, after that, they made Bakhtov say the totally cringe Oath of Oathiness.

 _I pledge on the face of Morpheus,_

 _To uphold my position,_

 _To dance with Maelstrom,_

 _To play poker with Ophinius,_

 _And to do whatever Zhantov tells me to do._

Yay said all them people.

"Now," said Zhantov, "let's plan the mission."

"Yes," said Morpheus. "I need two volunteers to go with me and Zhantov into the Matrix."

"Um…" said Maelstrom. "I volunteer!"

"And I volunteer," said Bakhtov.

"Good," said Morpheus. "Let's go."

 **Lena**

Lena had sat in the passenger seat, and slept and ate and drank there for the past three days. The humvee had been making its way to Dayton for that long, and Cassie, Poundcake, Ben, and Dumbo had all taken a turn driving. Soon, however, they would arrive at Dayton, where they would camp for a day, and then walk to the rendezvous. It wasn't very fun though, Dumbo threw up like every hour, he must have car sickness. Ahe wish though, that she had the changer, so that way they could get an enormous cake, chocolate. Another large bump startled her out of her vision.

"Look out!" Lena yelled to Ben, who was about to try to jump a cliff.

"Ben, what are you doing!" Dumbo and Lena asked in unison.

"We're almost out of gas, and we need some excitement!" Ben yelled as they ran over the jump.

Lena's heart was beating rapidly and they jumped across.

"We're all gonna die!" Dumbo said

"Nonsense," Ben assured, and they landed and crashed on the other side. The 2 front wheels popped, and a bunch of the paint scratched.

"Now," Ben said, "Wasn't that fun!"

"If you call fun being close to death, then yeah, but I've been closer," Lena confirmed

"Now what?" Dumbo asked.

"We're only half a mile from Dayton, we should get there in about 7 minutes if we walk, run, probably less," said Ben.

"Yeah, but now we have to carry six large tents," said Dumbo, "As well as sleeping bags and food and stuff."

"We take two tents," said Ben. "Some people can share. That'll lighten the load a bit."

"Man," said Cassie, "if Evan were here, he could probably just carry the humvee."

"Uh, probably not," said Lena. "Mike could."

"Believe me," said Cassie. "You don't know what you're talking about when it comes to Evan."

"I'm sure I don't," said Lena. "Look, the boys are already walking. Let's catch up."

Cassie and Lena both took off, before Cassie suddenly stopped.

"We're forgetting Sammy," she said.

"Don't worry," said Sammy, "I'm right here."

Lena and Cassie both yelped and started sprinting as fast as they could, with Sammy right behind. The streaked past the boys, who gave them confused looks, before they finally stopped running.

"Sammy," said Lena, "you scared us half to death."

"I'm not Sammy," said Sammy, "I'm Nugget!"

"Listen, Sams," said Cassie, "that's the name the Others gave you. It's a very mean name. You are Sammy!"

"Fine!" said Sammy.

Dumbo and Pound Cake came puffing and steaming up the way, followed by Ben.

"What are you guys doing?" said Ben.

"Sammy here scared our pants off," said Lena. Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Now, that's not very nice," said Ben.

"I didn't mean to! Stop being such a meanie!" Sam fired back, (Then did the floss super fast, cos he felt like it.)

Ben took this as an insult, and did it as fast as he could to. Soon enough, they were all doing it, but no one could keep up with Sam, he was doing it as almost 1000 miles per hour. Ben was trying to do it so hard, that he fell down, gasping for breath.

"You are to fast, and a show off!" Ben implied

"You're just jealous, because you can't do anything cool!" Sammy fired back.

"Oh yeah, watch this," he said and did a backflip, but tripped on a rock and fell on his face.

"Ha! I told you!" Sammy said

"C'mon guys, stop this nice rivally and let's get a move on!" Cassie said. They all started off again, but Sam and Ben, made a solemn vow, to be better at everything than the other.

"WHO YOUR DADDY?!" Ben suddenly yelled after about five minutes of jogging.

"What was that?" Lena asked, confused.

"I just felt like it, ya know?" Ben replied

"WHO'S YOUR MOMMY!?" Yelled Sammy after another thirty seconds of jogging.

"Not you too!" Cassie complained.

"It's fun to say," Sammy replied; "And you are just jealous, because It doesn't sound as cool when you say it, plus you can't floss."

"Whatever," Cassie responded, "let's set up camp. Then, we probably need to hunt down the town silencer."

"Why?" asked Lena.

"Make it safe to camp," said Cassie. "That silencer will kill us while we sleep in any other case."

Dumbo and Ben pulled out the two tents and started pitching. Poundcake and Cassie stood guard. Lena and Sammy started making a fire.

"Hey, Lena?" said Sammy .

"Hey what?" Lena responded.

"I can't wait to kill a silencer."

After pitching the tent, the group moved out. The silencer would probably be located in the center of town, which would take about three hours to reach. Poundcake took point and Ben took the rear, while everyone else stayed in the middle. Poundcake had his gun pointed forward at all time, ready to fire.

After about two hours, it happened.

KA-BLAM! Poundcake jumped to the side, and a chunk of concrete was blasted out of the wall in front of him. Everyone else ducked down, while Poundcake poked his head over the side and fired.

 _Pop-pop-pop! KA-BLAM!_

"Take him out, Cake!" Ben yelled. Poundcake continued to fire.

"Upstart, Dumbo!" he said.

"Name's Lena," said Lena "don't call em Upstart. That's a stupid name."

"Fine!" said Ben, "you and Dumbo need to come with me. Into the sewers, take him from behind."

 _Pop-pop-pop! KA-BLAM!_

Ben ripped off a manhole near the group. "Dumbo, in!"

Dumbo slid down the tunnel and disappeared. Ben followed shortly after. Lena looked around her, while Poundcake fired another shot. She steeled her nerves, and jumped in.

 **Sammy**

"Sammy!" yelled Cassie, "get to that building!"

Cassie fired a shot in the general direction of the alien.

"I wanna kill him, though!" said Sammy.

"Too bad!" said Cassie. She grabbed his hand and yanked him along, making sure to stay under cover.

 _Pop-pop-pop! KA-BLAM!_

"Lemme go!" said Sammy. Cassie ignored him, pulling him through a door. They dashed into a lobby, and Cassie tucked him in between a desk and a wall.

"Lemme go!" said Sammy.

"Stay here!" said Cassie. "Understand?"

"I wanna fight!" said Sammy.

"Stay here, it's what mother would've wanted!" Cassie's voice cracked.

Sammy paused for a second. "Fine!"

 **Cassie's First Person POV**

I sprinted to the window, after leaving Sammy in the nook. When I reached the window, I grabbed my trusty M16. Flip off the safety. Load the mag. Head on the stock.

 _Pop-pop-pop! KA-BLAM!_

I let off a round in the general direction of the silencer. My three bullets slammed into the glass across the street at the same time Poundcake's did. There was silence for a moment.

Suddenly, a blow slammed into the back of my head. I fell to the ground reeling, while a middle-aged man stood above me with a sniper rifle. I screamed, and he raised a blow…

Then three shots rang out, and the silencer fell on me. I rolled him off, to see Sammy with an M16 in his hands.

"Cassie, I killed him," he said.

 **Lena**

Lena dashed through the sewers after Ben. A leftright beat drop happened, and they arrived at a ladder. Dumbo immediately started climbing the ladder, followed by Ben. Lena grasped the rungs and started ascending.

After about three minutes of climbing, light broke through the tunnel. Lena covered her eyes for a moment, before she adjusted. Dumbo poked his head through the exit, then jumped out. Ben came after. Finally, Lena entered the world.

"Hello!" said Dumbo.

"Silencer's dead!" said Cassie. "Sammy killed him."

"Really?" said Lena. _Wow, he actually did it,_ she thought to herself. All of a sudden, they heard a _chop-chop-chop!_ Sound.

"Uh oh," said Dumbo, "choppers."

Two Black Hawks were over the city, most likely loaded with squads.

"Great…" said Cassie. "First a silencer, and now Vosch's goons."

"Get to cover," said Zombie. "Two squads verses one half of a squad. This is siege warfare."

"I say we clear out," said Dumbo, "there's no hope of fighting them off."

"Agreed," said Cassie. "We hide, no one needs to find us."

"To the rendezvous?" said Ben.

"To the rendezvous," said Lena.

 **Squad**

The Black Hawks touched down, and Squad 79 disembarked. The sergeant knew that whoever she shot would die. She was one of the best in Camp Haven, after all.

"Sergeant," said Blocky, the squad medic, "I'm not getting anything on my eyepiece."

"They must either be survivors or out of range," the sergeant responded. She got on the headset with the chopper pilot.

"They're gone," the sergeant said.

"Get back on the chopper," said the pilot, "we'll get 'em next time, Ringer."

 **Lena**

"Ya'll come right in" Mike said in a terrible western accent as they opened the door.

Lena couldn't believe it, two beds, a couch and chair, and, to top all that off, a fireplace. While they were risking their lives, jumping a cliff, him and Teacup were living the life here. While he was talking it up for the others, she walked over and punched him, HARD.

"Ow, what the crap was that for?"

"While you've been living the life, we have been fighting aliens and driving off cliffs, so, if you want to help a little, then you go ahead!"

"Hey girlfriend, chill, you all made it to the rendezvous, and so now, we can discuss the next phase of the plan," Mike announced. Easier said than done though.

"So I say, we try to find some batteries, and use the changer to get an entire army," Mike suggested.

"But the only batteries were in the base, and we blew it up," Even said

"Plus, if we didn't destroy it, each of us could still only get one battery," Justin added.

"Why?" Dumbo asked.

"You can't know."

"Why?"

"Because Because I said," Justin confirmed

"How about we wait here for them to make the first move, in the movies, that seems to work better," Cassie implied

"Or, we could use the element of surprise, and take them when they least expect it, besides, maybe Vosch is still around," Ben said.

"As much as I hate to admit this, you're correct," Justin responded; "But we need at least a few days of planning."

"Logic states that fighting the Others is nearly impossible," said Evan. "I would know. I'm one of them."

"Whaaa? Oh, wait," Dumbo said

Suddenly, every gun in the room (except Cassie's) was pointed at him. Evan sheepishly raised his hands in surrender.

"What. The. [censored]," said Ben.

"Doesn't surprise me," said Justin. "You should have seen what he did back there to the… other Others."

"Evan didn't kill you," said Cassie, "he killed them. He's on our side."

"I agree," said Teacup and Lena at the same time. They both also lowered their weapons.

"What makes you think so?" said Mike.

"I dunno," said Lena.

"Feminine intuition, I guess," said Teacup.

"How do you know about feminine intuition?" asked Cassie, "you're only seven."

"I have my sources, I spent at least twelve hours a day on my laptop before the Others arrived," she responded.

"I bet you just played video games that whole time," Cassie said

"Maybe true, but I also got more educated with that learning experience."

"Ok, now back on track," Lena said, "We still need to defeat the Others, and us 3 need to get back to the real world."

"I thought you said this was the real world?" Cassie said

"The Matrix is still a program, but turned real, once we destroy the Others, it might turn back, but you could choose to come back with us if you wanted," Lena inferred.

"Um," said Evan, "what did I tell you?"

"The Others are impossible to defeat," said Lena.

"Exactly," said Evan. "there is no defeating the Others. They are immortal."

"There must be some way to weaken them, there always is," Mike chimed in; "Then, we can destroy them!"

"Well," said Evan, "There is one way."

"And that is?" said Justin.

"I have a neural connection to the Mothership," said Evan.

"What does that mean? I'm confused again," Dumbo said.

"Lemme finish!" Evan snapped. "Once the 5th Wave launches, the Others will drop bombs to wipe out every city on Earth."

"Why?" asked Cassie.

"Because it's what they do," said Evan. "They destroy. Get used to it."

"Continue," said Mike.

"Before they do that, they launch a pod to the dwelling of every silencer," said Evan. "The silencers use the pods to travel to the Mothership. That's one way to blow it up."

"Which implies that there is another," said Cassie.

"Yes," said Evan. "Vosch possesses a Core of Annihilation, which is connected to the Mothership. If the Core is destroyed, so is the ship."

"So he is still alive!" Teacup inferred.

"Why does he have it?" said Dumbo.

"I do not know the inner machinations of his mind!" said Evan. "Anyways, it's pretty much impossible to get to it."

"So… you're saying that when the pods come, one of us rides up and blows up the ship?" said Justin.

"Pretty much, we just need a big bomb, and that will be very very very difficult," Evan stated

"So what are you saying, it's over?" Cassie asked angrily

"Nothing is over!" Justin yelled, and everyone looked at him like he was going mad.

"Um, it's a Rocky IV reference," Justin said embarrassed.

Lena sighed, than went back to work, "I know how we can do it, if we get inside, we don't have to blow the ship up, we only need some…"

"BATTERIES!" interrupted Mike, "Lena, you're a genius!"

"What do batteries have to do with- ohhh," Cassie suddenly realized

"I don't follow," Teacup said.

"If we get a bunch of batteries, we can come back down, build a massive indestructible fortress, get an entire army plus us, and a bunch of plasma miniguns, then, and only then, will the Others be weakened," Mike planned

"Ok, I like it, but then what?" Evan asked; "We still need to destroy them."

"I don't know, let's just go with what we have right now though," Cassie stated.

"Now this is a plan!" Dumbo said, "not one bit confusing at all, but I do have one little question, where do we find one of these pods, there not just like gonna drop one for us."

"Yea, but they have one of these silencers every 5 miles, so there should be one close by, so If we find a silencer, we can find the pod," Cassie stated

"But there is a problem to this, how are we supposed to take down one of these without dying?" Teacup asked

"Well, we'll need a whole new plan for that," Justin said; "And It will be the best takedown ever!"

 **2 hours later**

"So we can't create a distraction, then go in, because they have super fast reflexes, and can take tons of damage," Lena stated.

"How about we just snipe it down?" Dumbo suggested, "that will be quick and easy."

"Here's the thing," Cassie said, "Apparently they can take lots of damage, so it will take many shots to kill it, also, we don't have any snipers I think."

"True, true," Evan agreed; "We'll just have to keep brainstorming."

"Also," said Lena, "you might wanna know that there are at least two squads hunting us."

"Ah," said Teacup.

"In the meantime, how about a famous cup of MIke's hot chocolate?" he asked

"Oh yes please!" everyone said.

"With a fire, it's easy, and for later, I have some chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers, and hopefully someone bought hot dogs?" he said looking at Lena.

"Oh yeah, I got all that stuff," Lena said, and handed it over.

"Thank you," Mike said, "So while we are planning, we will be cooking and eating hot dogs!"

They ate hot dogs, and Dumbo asked Cassie a question.

"Hey Cassie?" said Dumbo, "what happened to your leg?"

"I got shot by a shark," said Cassie.

Dumbo looked bewildered, as well as everyone else.

"How'd you get shot by a shark?" asked Teacup.

"Don't tell them," said Evan, giving Cassie puppy-dog eyes.

"Did Evan shoot you?" asked Dumbo.

"Uh…. yes," said Cassie.

"It's a long story," said Evan.

Everyone kept having conversations, ya know, before Mike made an excellent suggestion.

"How 'bout we just hang 'round here for a week?" he said.

"Good idea," said Lena. "We've been on the move for the past four or five days. We need a break."

"I concur," said Evan.

Throughout the rest of the meal, the team organized schedules of watches, and cooking shifts, and such and such and such. Afterwards, everyone went down the halls and started claiming rooms.

The youngest kids, Sam and Teacup, were put in the secure basement. Poundcake and Dumbo were closest to the living room. Across the hall from them were Cassie and Evan. Next to Dumbo and Poundcake were Ben and Justin (no idea why they put _them_ in the same room). Next to Cassie and Evan were Mike and Lena.

Everyone settled their watch schedules (Sammy was mad that he wasn't allowed to go on watch).

 **Cassie Sullivan's POV**

We spent the rest of the night hanging out and playing board games until bedtime. I was first on watch, so I shouldered my trusty M16 and went out to the roof perch.

I didn't really do much for a couple hours, except shoot a pheasant for future food. I also pondered some random stuff.

I had worked out that our little team was like a wolf pack. You've got your alpha males- Evan and Justin- and your alpha females, me and Lena. Then there's the rest of the pack, with Mike, Ben, and Poundcake as hunters, Dumbo as medicine man, and Teacup and Sam for cubs. And cubs must be protected.

 _Knock._ Evan wants to come in, I thought to myself. I knocked back an affirmative. The hatch opened, and Evan came out and onto the roof with his rifle. He smiled.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," I replied.

"I heard you shooting," he remarked.

"Just a pheasant."

"Ah."

Silence. I started plucking the feathers of the pheasant

"Justin's coming out to watch soon," said Evan.

"Is he?" I asked.

"Well, it's his shift at midnight, and it's eleven-thirty right now."

I nodded. Not tired.

"Don't kill each other, alpha males," I said. Evan nodded.

We sat there, him doing nothing, me gutting the pheasant with my bowie knife, for the next half hour. The hatch popped open, and Justin appeared.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Watching," Evan and I replied in unison.

"Together?" asked Justin.

"Ya, is that a problem?" Cassie asked.

"Are you jealous?" asked Evan.

"Uh, ya, a little bit," said Justin.

"About what?" I asked.

"Nothing, now go to bed!" said Justin.

"Sure," I said, and went down the hatch. Evan followed. We went to bed ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

 **Ben's POV**

Rest of the week was relaxing (despite being a bit boring). Though some will disagree, I found it to be pretty enjoyable. Eating homemade food, playing board games, shooting birds, it was the good life.

On the seventh day, we reconvened in the living room to figure out what to do next.


	12. Ridiculously Long Chapter

**Lena**

"You three," said Evan, pointing at Lena, Mike, and Justin, "could you guys go search for that silencer and his house?"

"I don't want to, It's dangerous and we could die!" Mike protested.

"I have to agree with MIke on this one, we can't kill it without a plan," Lena replied.

"Oh, come on," said Justin, "we three can handle a Silencer."

"Are you crazy?" said Mike, "I heard from you personally the stuff that Evan can do."

"I am above average," said Evan, "for a silencer. Like Vosch. Vosch is better."

"If you two won't go, I'll go alone," said Justin stubbornly. Mike sighed.

"I guess we'd better go with him," said Mike to Lena.

"Yep, make sure he doesn't get into trouble," Lena replied. Justin smiled smugly.

"What are you gonna do?" Justin asked Evan.

"I'm gonna stay here," said Evan, "and do stuff."

"Kay," said Mike.

"Also, some info we probably need," said Evan. "The Mothership blows up all the cities on the Spring Equinox, and the 5th Wave launches."

"Can we go now?" said Justin.

"Fine," said Mike. He shouldered his M16 and followed Justin out the door. Lena came shortly after.

"What's the plan to find this guy?" said Mike.

"I make plans," said Lena, "Ima do it now. The plan is… we wander around until something happens."

"Great plan…" said Justin.

They started wandering around the woods, and talked.

"I darezh you step across this line," Justin said to Mike

"Ima steppin!" Mike said, and stepped right into a swimming pool, already filled.

"Gerrekt," said Justin.

"Oh, come on," said Lena, "stop being such idiots."

Then, the sound of a chopper echoed through the air. Lena's head shot up, and she saw two Black Hawk choppers approaching.

"Uh," said Lena, "Guys?"

Justin and Mike looked up and cursed in unison.

"Di Immortales!" Justin exclaimed.

"Heck!" Mike yelled. Lena looked at him weirdly.

"Shoot!" Lena said joining in on the fun.

Then, the helicopters started homing in.

"Run!" Justin yelled, whilst running. Mike followed after. Lena took a couple potshots with her M16, but they just bounced off the armor. The helicopter aimed it's missile launchers at the gang.

"Hit the dirt!" said Justin. Mike and Lena dropped down, and at least forty hellfire missiles flew over head and decimated the trees.

"Scatter!" said Mike. Justin went right, Lena went left, and Mike went straight. The choppers chased Lena.

"Oh, fiddlesticks," said Lena. The choppers started lowering down.

Suddenly, three bullet shots rang out. One helicopter started spiraling through the sky, with smoke trailing out from it's engines.

"Yes!" said Lena, praising Justin's marksmanship (t'was Justin, right? Mike can't shoot that well). As if that wasn't enough, the other helicopter started unloading with it's machine gun.

"[censored]," said Lena. "Going back home now."

Lena turned her face towards the far-away cabin, and started sprinting through the underbrush. But then she tripped and sprained her ankle on a rock, it was bad.

"Help!" she cried.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike still running away heard her, and thinking that this was the time to make a love connection, ran towards her voice.

HEEEEEEEEEELP!" Lena sounded again.

Mike kept going through the woods, following the sound of Lena's voice. Eventually, he arrived at her crash sight.

"Mike," said Lena, "I sprained my ankle."

"Wonderful," said Mike. "I've got this."

Mike took off his ascot (why does he have an ascot?) and his belt. He ran into the woods and grabbed two sturdy pieces of wood. He put one on either side of her leg, and tied them on very tightly with his ascot and belt.

"Here we go," said Mike, "splint. Learned it in Boy Scouts."

"Ah," said Lena, "help me walk."

Mike pulled Lena's arm around his neck and hoisted her up. They started walking (or hobbling) in the general direction of the cabin. The chopper was sort of, you know, flying. Then, a voice whispered in Mike's mind.

 _Right._

Mike dived to the right, pulling Lena down next to him. Chaingun bullets tore up the ground where he had just been a moment before.

"[censored!]" yelled Lena.

"Run!" said Mike. He hoisted Lena up again, and they started running (or hobbling) away from the chopper. That's when Justin showed up.

"Hey guys!" said Justin. "Having fun?"

"Sure, sure," said Lena. "Sprained ankle, attack helicopters, hellfire missiles, and we're just great!"

Justin just chuckled and took off for the cabin. "Hey, wait!" said Mike. They started pursuing Justin through the woods. Eventually, they arrived at the cabin.

* * *

 **Cassie**

There it is! A chopper! Chasing Mike, Lena, and Justin across the lawn.

"Look out!" Cassie yelled, "Black Hawk inbound!"

Evan grabbed his rifle instantly, standing up with extreme speed. Meanwhile, the rest of the group were scrambling for guns. Cassie was the first to know when the hellfire hit.

A voice in her head whispered _Run!_

So she ran. Hellfire missiles destroyed the front half of the cabin, where she'd been standing a moment before.

"Get out!" yelled Evan, firing his rifle. Everyone hightailed it out, Evan close behind, and another missile wiped the rest of the place.

 _Pop-pop-pop!_ Cassie turned to see Mike, Justin and Lena behind a ridge, firing their rifles at the chopper. Unfortunately, the bullets simply glanced off the side as the chopper touched down.

"Help 'em out!" said Dumbo. Poundcake lifted his rifle and fired into the bay of the chopper, and a recruit dropped dead. Suddenly, a bullet ripped through the air, and Poundcake stopped firing.

"NO!" yelled Ben, running forward as Poundcake fell backwards to the ground. Blood was blossoming across his chest.

"Cake!" said Ben. "Cake, don't die!"

"Ben," Poundcake whispered.

"Cake, you can [censored]ing talk," said Ben. "What a relief."

"Ben," said Poundcake, "Sarge."

"No, no, no," said Ben, "don't use your strength. Don't die."

"My name… my name is…" and Poundcake passed away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Ben, cradling Poundcake's body. He put his head on Poundcake's chest, and started sobbing.

The chopper was on the ground by that point. The trio on the other side of the "cabin" had taken out two more squad members, but three of the enemies had pinned them down. Meanwhile, three more were heading for us.

"Ben!" said Teacup, "look out!"

Ben looked up, and screamed with rage. He raised his gun and unloaded an entire clip in their general direction. The squad dropped down under the flurry of bullets, and they hid behind another ridge. The group kept up suppressing fire, and the enemy stayed down.

Then, the rest of the squad abandoned their attack and rushed us.

"Retreat!" yelled Ben, and they turned to run. The enemy were chasing.

An arm wrapped around Cassie's neck, pulling her into a headlock. She screamed, and another 5th Waver ripped my gun from her hand. The first soldier threw Cassie to the ground and put her in a mount position (wrestling terminology).

Cassie bit the first soldier's hand, hard. The first soldier didn't care.

"Shoot her legs," the soldier said, "so she can't run."

"Good idea, Sarge," said another. _Pew-pew!_

Cassie yelled as a bullet entered both legs. Two soldier's grabbed her arms and hauled her up. They started dragging Cassie to the chopper.

"Ringer and Spark got one!" said a recruit from the chopper. "We need one more!"

The two Wavers (apparently Ringer and Spark) yanked her into the chopper, and strapped her down in a chair. They left Cassie there for a second, with here bleeding bullet wounds, until they returned lugging Ben in the same way (though they were having more trouble, cos weight difference).

They strapped down Ben in a chair, and he looked at Cassie and smiled. "Got you too, huh?" he said.

"Shut up infested," said the soldier called Ringer. Another soldier, probably the medic walked up to Cassie and slapped a dressing on her wounds. He moved to Ben, and did the same thing.

"Alright, move out!" said Ringer. "We've got everyone we need, we just need to kill the rest of them."

Ringer and Spark jumped out, and the third soldier stayed behind. Cassie looked out the door, and saw Evan and Justin combating three soldiers. Evan and Justin seemed to be invincible, absorbing bullets like no other. Evan charged two of them, and shot them down. The other was taken by Justin.

Cassie saw Ringer and Spark attack as well, but Spark was mowed down by Dumbo's fire. Ringer decided the wise choice was to head back to the chopper, but she was pursued around and out of her line of sight. Cassie was so worried, she hoped her friends would make it.

* * *

 **Justin**

It came from out of the blue. First some hellfire missiles drop, then Lena was injured, Cassie and Ben taken prisoner, and Poundcake dead. Justin felt as if he was slowly dying from a gut shot. Then he and Evan were suddenly surrounded by soldiers, like that was going to be hard though. Both Evan and himself could take bullet damage, So they did. Justin was amazed at how fast Evan could move, just like Neo! It occurred to him, that Evan could be the One, if they all made it through this. While he was facing Evan, a soldier tried to sneak up on him, but Justin just punched him from behind.

"Nice moves," Justin complemented Evan.

"Thanks, were definitely the most OP members of the team here!" Evan replied.

"Totally my man! But let's not tell the others," Justin suggested

"You mean the aliens? They already know I think."

"No, I mean Lena, Ben, Cassie, and the rest of the gang," Justin said.

"Ahh," Evan agreed, " We should probably get back to the cabin."

"Good idea," he agreed.

They ran up to the cabin's remains as fast as they could, but couldn't catch the chopper holding Ben and Cassie. Evan tried to shoot at the chopper, but the gunman brought down heavy fire, and Evan and Justin had to duck for cover to live.

"Ben, Cassie!" Justin shouted out to them, "Stick to the plan!"

"Did we have one for this scenario?" Evan asked

"I don't think so, It just sounded cool to say," Justin said.

"Well, we better get going," Evan said.

"Okay, but first we must have a ceremony for Poundcake," Justin said with tears in his eyes (this is so sad. Alexa, play Despacito).

Dumbo and Teacup came running forward. Dumbo said "Poundcake talked! It's a miracle!"

"Do you not care that he's dead?" said Teacup.

"I do, but still, you wonder why he never talked in the first place," Dumbo responded.

"Well," Evan said, "The secret died with him."

"What secret?" said Mike, who had run over with Lena, "also, the sergeant got away."

"I worked hard to kill that sergeant," said Lena.

"Yeah, well, we can get her later," Justin said, "In the meantime, we need to get back to the plan."

"Also what will happen to Ben and Cassie? We don't know where they will be," Dumbo said.

"But they will stick to the plan," Justin decided.

"What plan?" Teacup said, "We never had one for this scenario."

"I know!" he said angrily, "It just sounded cool!"

"Personally," Evan said, "I think we should go save our friends!" He gave Justin a weird look, like _Ha! I want to save Cassie. You don't!_

"Oh, you wanna fight?" said Justin.

"I'm not sure that's a wise decision…" said Evan.

"Aaaaaaaaaaayah!" Justin yelled, launching himself at Evan. He smacked into him and fell on the ground dazed.

"Anyway," Mike said, "How are we supposed to get Cassie and Ben back, with no vehicle, and barely any weapons, plus we still need to get into a pod.

"Here's the answer," said Evan, "While we're saving them, we go blow up Vosch's little core-type thing. Let's also get Sam.

"I'll be right back," Lena said.

* * *

 **Sammy**

It was a blur of disaster. Sammy had to run into the tall grass, but he never got to do any cool things. Because he was only five, he couldn't use a gun or go on secret missions, all he could do was tag along and hide when he had to. Sam really wanted to help, but the others never let him. He felt as if he were a soldier in the civil war, wanting to battle. The Others took everything except his sister from him, so now all he wants is revenge, burning like the ashes from a volcano. He was frightened when he heard the first shots. Sammy was mostly worried for Cassie, but he wouldn't tell her that he was more worried for Lena, she cared for him when Cassie wasn't there, so did Justin and Mike, but Lena was something special. He ducked when he heard the Cabin explode in a fury of fire. There were shouts and screams, he wanted so badly to rush in like the hero, but again, he would probably get himself killed. There were muffled shouts, and a chaingun turret firing. He stayed down for as long as he could, until he saw Lena coming to save me.

"Sammy!" Lena yelled, "where are you hiding?"

"Long grass!" Sammy yelled back. He had a sudden flashback to watching Jurassic Park II with Cassie and her friend Lizbeth.

Lena came closer into view, dragging a splinted leg behind her. "Are you alright?"

she asked.

"Ya, I'm fine," Sammy responded. "What happened to your leg?"

"I fell on it, better than being dead, I'm glad you're alright.

"So am I, I was so worried and scared, but I'm trying to be brave," he replied.

"Sam," said Lena, grabbing him by the hand, "bad things happened."

Uh-oh. He took a deep breath, waiting for the bad news.

"Poundcake died a soldier's death, shooting down a bad guy, before he was shot in the chest," said Lena. "He spoke to Ben, one last time, but all he said was, 'my real name is', then he died."

Phew. Poundcake wasn't anyone special. It would've been worse if it was Cassie, not to be mean or anything, or Ben or Lena or Mike or Justin.

"Also," said Lena. Oh [censored], someone else died.

"Ben and Cassie-," said Lena.

"Are they dead?" Sammy asked, my bottom lip starting to come out.

"No, I don't think so," said Lena, "they were captured. No one knows what's going to happen to them."

* * *

 **Ben Parish**

That Sergeant, man… that sergeant was the girl he kept seeing back at Camp Haven. And now, Ben was her prisoner.

She had jumped back into the chopper, then the pilot gunned the engines. The Black Hawk went up, and turned due north towards who-knows-where. Sergeant Ringer informed Private Blocky that they were the only two left in the squad. Blocky nodded grimly. Gave Ben a shot of morphine.

The helicopter kept going on it's way: Cassie spat on Ringer's face. Ringer slapped her. Cassie swore. Nothing else interesting happened.

Finally, they touched down. The two of them were moved to stretchers. Brought to a hospital. Incarcerated in separate rooms.

Ben laid there in peace, while the muddling mental effects of the morphine faded away. His thoughts were quite strange.

Once his mind was clear, the room came into focus. The sound of the IV was quite loud. Then, the door opened.

"I missed you, Benjamin," said Vosch. "For the few days you were gone."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same," I responded. "We're not exactly chummy."

Vosch kept up his blue stare. Man, I hate that blue stare.

"You know, Ben," said Vosch, "that when the human race is whittled down to the last few, every man's worth is equal to the sum of all things."

"I also know that your worth is less than the sum of no things," Ben responded.

Vosch looked at me some more. "Let's play a game, Ben. A game of chance."

He blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The reason you survived was luck, Ben. Like most of you," Vosch responded. "So come now. Let's play roulette."

"Russian roulette?"

"No, regular roulette," Vosch said again. The door opened and two attendants came in with a roulette wheel.

"What if I simply refuse to play?" Ben said.

"They die," said Vosch. He held up the all-familiar death switch.

"Who are _they?"_ Ben asked, "my friends? You only got one, so not plural."

"No, we got two. Two in one."

"I'm sorry, I don't- ah," I said. Cassie's pregnant.

"We ran a test, came up positive," said Vosch.

Wonderful. Double leverage. Now, Ben's got no choice. If he refused to play roulette with Vosch, one of his friends and her unborn child both die.

"Prepare to get wrecked."

Vosch smiled.

* * *

 **Morpheus**

Morpheus and the rescue team had been in the Matrix for some time now. Mega City was not how they remembered it: no lights, no vehicles (except dead ones), and no people (wait, dead people too). And the best part: no agents!

The team had done a thorough sweep of the school, searching for any clues to the intrepid trio's whereabouts. All they had found was the body of the panicky girl. Morpheus still remembered her.

"The real question is, why didn't they follow you when you called up to us?" asked Maelstrom.

"The power was out by that point. No idea why the phone still worked for me, but not them," said Morpheus.

"Divine providence, I guess," said Zhantov.

"Divine providence that Morpheus got to come back and they didn't?" asked Bakhtov.

"Well, perhaps they had some purpose to fulfill in the Matrix," said Zhantov.

"Hold on…" said Maelstrom. "Are we trapped here now, since there's no power?"

"Ya, pretty much," said Zhantov.

"Well, we might as well make our time here worth the while," said Bakhtov, "and reunite with the lost kids."

"Agreed," said Zhantov.

"But how?" asked Maelstrom.

"We use our top-notch brains," said Morpheus, "and go from there."

Zhantov's head perked up all of a sudden, and he ran outside. Everyone else turned and followed.

When they exited, Zhantov was standing in front of a big sign, with a map on it. It showed a zoomed-out map of Mega City, showing the surrounding area. Several spots were marked in red sharpy, with names next to them. The nearest one was labeled **Camp Ashpit.**

"Refugee camps," said Zhantov. "Something happened. People left the city and moved into those."

"Neat. Let's go check some out," said Bakhtov.

"Agreed," said Maelstrom.

"We hit the ones closest first," said Morpheus, "and move outward. Split up. Everyone gets flare guns."

Morpheus pulled out four flare guns, handed out three of them, and kept one for himself.

"If there's a catalogue or anything, and their names are on it, fire this into the air," said Morpheus. "Or if you find any of them in an active one. Once you fire, stay there, and we'll come to you."

"Good idea," said Zhantov.

"Also, we go out to places in order of speed," said Morpheus. "Zhantov heads towards the farthest ones since he's fastest, I go to the closest ones, and you two go to the ones in the middle."

Zhantov took off again, in the direction of a place labeled **Camp Fargone.** Morpheus headed for Ashpit.

After a while of running, Morpheus reached what looked like a burial mound of some sorts. Two bodies were there: a soldier and an adolescent. Morpheus sighed and kept going.

He emerged into a clearing where the camp _used_ to be. Instead of a camp, though, all there was was flat ground, and the ruins of buildings pressed into it. He spotted a body, holding a clipboard. He picked up the clipboard and started reading the names.

 _Tabatha Suri, Oliver Sullivan, Sammy Sullivan, Cassie Sullivan…_

There they were. _Justin Bunt, Mike French, Lena Imbala._

Morpheus aimed his flare gun in the air, and fired. Then he sat down on the ground and waited.

Soon enough, he saw Zhantov running toward him, closely followed by Bakhtov.

"How many?" asked Zhantov.

"All three," replied Morpheus.

"Nice," said Maelstrom, "but this place looks pretty… dead."

"We can't give up yet, we've only just begun," said Bakhtov. "Anyways, what else are we gonna do?"

"Bakhtov brings up a good point," said Zhantov. "I saw we follow those tire tracks over there."

"Tire tracks?" said Morpheus. He jumped up and looked. Sure enough, there were tire tracks.

"Any idea what's in that direction?" asked Maelstrom.

"Yes, I do," said Zhantov. "Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."

"Military?" asked Bakhtov.

"Might be dangerous," said Morpheus.

"I say we go," said Maelstrom, "and find those three. I've never failed a mission before."

"Yes, you have," said Morpheus. "Remember the one back in 2014-"

"That wasn't a real mission, anyway!" Maelstrom said defensively.

"Every mission is a real mission," said Bakhtov. Maelstrom looked mad.

"ANYWAYS!" Zhantov said loudly, "let's get back to what we were doing. Going to Wright-Patterson Airfield."

"Right!" said the other three in unison, and started jogging thataways.

* * *

 **Justin**

"Will they send another squad to finish us off?" asked Mike.

"Yes they will," said Evan, "and they'll bomb us to smithereens with hellfire. So, if you were thinking about boarding a chopper, that's out of the question."

"Dang," said Mike.

"So… what?" asked Teacup.

"We can't walk, we don't even know where the base is!" said Dumbo.

" _That's_ where you're wrong," Evan replied. "I _do_ know where the base is. It's in Michigan."

"That's not a precise location," Lena complained.

"It's by a Great Lake," Evan clarified.

"All of Michigan is by a Great Lake," Lena said.

"It's four miles to the west of the Capitol," Evan stated.

"Oh, not that far," said Justin.

"What do you mean not that far!" Dumbo said enraged, "That's like a few states away!"

"Much less distance than it sounds," said Justin. "With our luck it'll take us a month walking."

"Exactly," Mike agreed. "Too long, couldn't we go a little faster, It should only take two to three weeks."

"I agree with Justin," said Lena, "Cos we have bad luck."

"With silencers and probably other things," Evan said.

"And eating!" Sammy chimed in.

"And resting!" said Lena.

"And getting lost!" Dumbo added.

"And getting hurt!" Teacup shouted.

"And getting killed!" said Justin.

"Okay, okay, I give up," said Mike.

"Nobody wants to get killed!" Sammy said. "I have such a long life!"

"You're right," said Lena, "nobody does want to get killed."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Evan "Let's go!"

Everyone started walking kooly. (play cool heroic music.)

* * *

 **Cassie**

Man, the prison ward was extremely boring. Except the food.

Cassie had to say, the food was the highlight of her trip to Vosch's Torture Estate. The Others seemed obligated to give her really good food. She didn't know why.

Sergeant Ringer was her, uh, I (referring to me, the author) dunno… waitress? Ringer was annoying. She never stuck around. She always lorded how much smarter she was than Cassie over her head.

She was carrying a baby (yay). They hadn't yet run an ultrasound at that point, but, ya know. They probably would eventually, and she hoped it would be a boy, or a girl, please not a Furry, actually she didn't really care.

Ringer, in all her smartness, never believed what she said about the Others infesting the military. In fact, she always argued with herself over whether Cassie was an infested or a dorothy. Being that she was never in a squad, Cassie couldn't see why she never did settle on Dorothy.

"Why am I here?" Cassie asked Ringer once.

"Leverage," she replied. "Double leverage."

"On Ben?"

"Ya." Then she left.

One day, though, she finally stuck around. She had come to deliver my delicious breakfast. However, after she sat the tray down, she sat on a stool and looked at me. A staring contest, Cassie thought to herself. She met the challenge. Her eyes started to water, until Ringer broke down.

"Ha!" Cassie said. "I win!"

Ringer stood back up, looking mad.

"Why are you _still_ standing here?" Cassie asked. "You usually leave."

"Vosch has assigned me to keep you interested in life," said Ringer, "so you don't commit suicide."

"Why the [censored] would I do that!" Cassie said in anger. "I have another life inside of me, not to mention the love of my life and Sammy!"

"Oh, I guess to you it sounds ridiculous, but Vosch is so annoying, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, he really is," replied Cassie.

"So… wanna play chess?" asked Ringer.

"Chess?" Cassie asked, taking a bite of muffin.

"Yea, Chess, you know, the game where you have different pieces, and who have to get the king?"

"I know what it is, I just want to know why you want to play it."

"I love chess. I am a master."

"Well then, prepare to die!"

"No way, it will be you who will be demolished

"C'mon grandma!"

"Bring it small fry!"

"Weakling!"

"Noob!"

"Cheeto!"

"Butthead!"

"Loser!"

"Okay," said Ringer. "This is the end for you."

We played chess and Ringer royally crushed me in seven moves. Depression.

How about again?" Cassie asked.

"You're on!"

* * *

 **Everyone in the trip to Michigan**

It had been at least five hours, and, according to Lena, they had only gone five miles, five. The rest were not happy, but they did have to stop a few times to rest, and then once for forty minutes to eat, then again for a snack. Evan was the most annoyed, but Justin and Mike had come close.

"C'mon, we've only been going a mile an hour?!" Mike complained. "We should be going faster!"

"Yeah!" Justin and Evan said together

"Guys, we've have a six year old, and a seven year old, it could take us a while," Lena argued.

"That's still no excuse, we should have gone at least fifteen miles, if they weren't here!" Evan said.

"I have an idea," Justin started. "How about Mike and I go on a little ways over that hill, see what we can see, then report back?"

"That's a good plan," Mike agreed.

"Okay, but be back in less than one hour," Lena ordered

"And don't die!" Sammy added.

"We definitely won't be dead," Justin assured. Then, he and Mike started up.

The hill was about five-hundred feet up, and it only took them about ten minutes to reach the top. When they reached the top, and looked over, what they saw was shocking.

"Justin, can you see this too?" Mike asked.

"What are you looking at?" Justin asked

"Can't you see?"

"What, where, I can't see, ohhh!"

Down at the bottom of the other side, was what looked like two boys, maybe girls, they didn't know. One looked liked he had a gun, and the other had a backpack of some sort.

"Should we go down there?" asked Mike

"We don't really have a choice," Justin said.

"What if they want to go it alone and are mean to us, even worse, what if they're aliens, one is holding a rifle."

"That could also mean that they're humans, who escaped!" Justin said

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Mike replied.

"So how should we approach?"

"We go down slowly, guns loaded, but not drawn, got it?" Justin asked

"Yes sir," Mike replied with a joke (what joke? The other author wrote this part, I'm confused).

* * *

 **Teacup**

Mike and Justin had been up there for almost an hour, while the others just sat down here. Honest to God, she just wanted to move around. Teacup knew she didn't look like much to the other team members, but she was always motivated in the class, she even moved up to the second grade a year early. She wanted to help more, being seven, nobody thought she could do much, but she had shot a few in her lifetime. She shot a 22 bolt action rifle, 45. pistol, and also a 22. semi-auto rifle.

However, the M16 was a different breed: not a weapon made for sport, but for war. A weapon put in her hands by the Others. A weapon that would mow them down.

When Teacup was younger, she was abused. Neglected. Sometimes even starved. Her parents were caught up in their out-of-house work, and Teacup's only time away from home was school. She loved school, not because she performed exceptionally well, but because it was her time of freedom from her parents. Like most kids in her day, I hated her parents. Anyhow, the thing that always cheered her up was LEGOs; her first set ever was the LEGO City Coast Guard boat and watch tower. Ever since then, she had been obsessed with LEGOs. She used probably every dollar she had on LEGOs. My parents never gave her money for doing homework well and on time. Instead, to make money, she did odd jobs for my neighbor . Her dream was to buy the LEGO Epic Castle, which was seven-hundred fifty dollars. She knew it seemed like a lot, but for Christmas and her Birthday put into one, she had received something like three-hundred dollars. Before then I had one-hundred fifty, and she just got another three-hundred. To give you an idea of what this set looked liked, it was five feet tall, and three and a half feet wide. It had one huge middle tower, two medium ones with ballistas, and a bunch of other smaller ones, still big, some had ballistas or archer towers. It came with a king and queen, ten regular people, three servants, ten horses, and twenty knights. If Teacup got this set, it would mean YouTube sensation. But unfortunately, right when she was ready to buy it, those darned, dumb, dirty, stupid, annoying Others came. If they ever destroy them, the first thing Teacup swore she would be doing is buying that set, she even still has the money in her little backpack. She was deep in thought when she saw somebody come over the hill; it was Mike and Justin. Finally, she thought they were never gonna get back. But wait, who are those other two with them? One had a gun, and they looked shorter than them, maybe eleven or twelve?

"Hey guys, look!" she said

"Who are those other two with Mike and Justin?" Lena asked

"Don't know," Evan responded, "but the best thing to do is ask them when they get down,"

"I hope they're not evil," Dumbo stated.

* * *

Once they got down, Teacup got a good look at them other two. Both had black short hair, and were boys. The taller one, maybe older, had a gun, and wore black shades with a leather jacket. He had black army boots, as well as the other, along with a Nike shirt, and blue jeans. His look was like that of a leopard about to seize its prey, dark and bold. The other guy was more tan, just a little, and big eyes. He wore a jean jacket, with a blue shirt and tan cargo pants, and she didn't notice before, but he had a holster, which was holding an old western six shooter, one on each thigh. Teacup really didn't trust these guys.

"So, where are you guys from again?" Lena asked

"We survived the aliens, known as Others, and came from Michigan, they had a big base," the taller one said.

"Oh ya, that place," Evan said.

"Yeah, with at least twenty tanks and one hundred soldiers, probably more inside."

"That's where we're headed!" Lena said.

"Why?" the shorter one asked. "It's a death trap! If you're headed there, then Vosch wants you dead, he said they needed the rest, a party of seven, which apparently is you."

"We need to rescue our friends," Mike added

"And get back my sister!" Sammy chimed in.

"We better introduce ourselves," Lena said. "I'm Lena, the brains, those two you met are Justin and Mike, who have special powers. Evan here is the eldest, and has special powers to. Dumbo is the other boy. The two youngest are Teacup, she's seven, and Sammy, he's six, and can't really do much sadly."

"What are you talking about!" Sammy said enraged. "I can do this better than anyone!" And he did his floss thing super fast.

"No, I can!" replied the shorter one, and Sammy and him broke into a flossing contest. Teacup had never seen such lightning flossing. Both of them going at it, it was like an ultimate fight, but eventually, the shorter one gained victory. (Just ignore this. Please. My fellow author does weird stuff that I really can't be bothered to erase).

"Now then," the taller one started. "How about we introduce ourselves, my name is Edward, and this here is Elmer, like Elmer Fudd."

"We had two parents, who are dead. We had to run away, and now we found you!"

"And by the way, Elmer is one of the best shots in whole world, keep that in mind."

"We had Poundcake, he was a beastly shooter," said Evan. "Then he got killed by an even _better_ shot. No idea who that was."

"I'm sorry," said Elmer.

"I'm pretty good at shooting, too!" said Evan.

"Teacup's probably the most enthusiastic one here," Lena stated.

"Definitely," Teacup said.

"Wrong again!" said Sammy. "I'm more enthusiastic than you!"

"Can't I be anything special?" she asked.

"ANYWAYS!" said Edward with force, "it's nice to meet you guys… I guess you must not be aliens since you haven't shot us yet."

"I imagine that's a good reason for us to _not_ be aliens either," Mike replied.

"Evan, Edward, and Elmer," said Justin thoughtfully, "the Triplets in Chief."

"Hey, that's pretty good!" said Evan. He looked at Edward. "Wanna be my triplet?"

"Sure, you look like a nice guy," Edward said.

"Me too!" Elmer said. "So, how did you guys come about?"

Lena looked at Justin, Justin looked at Mike, Mike looked at Sammy, Sammy looked at Teacup, who looked at Evan, then he looked at Elmer and Edward.

"You might want to sit down, Mike, get some hot dogs going, this could take a while, Lena take it away," Evan said.

"Cool, yeah, um, how long is that story?" Elmer asked

"Um," Lena said.

* * *

 **Six Hours Later**

"Oh, well, while we were very entertained on what you can do, you guys are insane!" Elmer said

"Why? Lena and Mike asked.

"Because, there's no way I have lived in a fake world all this time, and not have known!"

"Exactly, you can't know, it's impossible, the Machines made it that way," Lena responded.

"I understand your pain, Elmer," said Dumbo, "I've been around these guys for months and I _still_ don't get it."

"I know it's hard to believe," said Lena, "but we have proof."

Suddenly, Lena whipped out her M16 and blasted Mike right in the stomach. Everyone gasped: guns were trained on her from all directions (except Justin's).

"You _are_ an alien!" said Elmer.

"No," said Lena. She walked over to Mike (who was lying on the ground, coughing up blood), and placed her hands on him. Slowly, his wounds began to close, until he was completely healed.

"Whoa!" everyone stared in awe.

"And this!" Mike announced as he shot Justin, he made sure Justin was ready so he could do his thing. The same as always, the bullets hit him, and he stayed alive.

"Okay then," Edward said. "You've convinced me, probably Elmer too."

Dumbo just sort of gaped. "I mean, I've seen Justin be a tank, and Mike be a bull, but LENA! I had no clue she could do anything like that!"

"Girls can surprise you huh?" Lena responded.

"Anyways," Edward continued. "We need to tell our story."

"So, it started out with my brother and I playing Fortnite, and if your curious, I got to level one-hundred for last season. Anyways, We were just playing with four of our other friends, when the TV went out. We thought it was just a bug, so we started to try and fix, that's when James noticed the whole power was out in the house. Sarah, who was thirteen, noticed as well that the whole power in the neighborhood was out, then there was a bang and a crash, it came from upstairs, where my parents were. We went up there and they were dead, from a hot wire that started a fire. We acted quickly and got out of the house. My Dad had 4four guns stashed, a 45. Desert Eagle he won (and I'm pretty sure it's illegal), a 22. rifle, and two six-shooters and holsters. The rest of our friends had guns too, and ran home to get those. To be clear, our friends and ages were; James, eleven; Sarah, thirteen; Cooper, twelve; and Caleb, thirteen. Elmer and I got our bikes. When we met up with the rest, James had made a shocking discovery, he said that the solar panels in his house worked, but they were fizzing out. Sarah suggested we cook some food that can't be eaten besides that, and others. When we met up in an hour, Sarah and Caleb came in a tandem bike, and James and Cooper got scooters. The most powerful gun we had was an M-60, a weapon Cooper's dad got illegally. Don't arrest us. We hooked it on the back of the tandem bike, and any other deployable guns on bikes. It took us a few days, but by the time we were done, we looked like a war gang. We rode out the plague, almost lost James and Sarah, but they pulled through. Eventually, we set out north from Detroit. We headed out towards the giant military base. We thought it would be a good idea, but no sooner had we come within five-hundred yards, then two armored cars came at us. Now me driving the bike, I could only tell Elmer the sensible thing to do, FIRE! Elmer kapowed his M-60, and that was the signal for everyone else to shoot. Elmer must have hit something, cause while on the chase, one car exploded and fell down. The other was still in hot pursuit. I knew we were gonna make it until one guy came out with a rocket. I thought this was the end until Sarah's bike crashed into the guy on the back, making the rocket fly over the sky. Of course we drove over to make sure she was fine, and she was. We salvaged all that we could, including the Scar, the gun I hold now. Then, five other cars started to come, James ordered us to get out of here, and I didn't miss a beat. Elmer and I got on the slightly damaged humvee and started away. Since then I have never seen my friends again. The Last words of Caleb were, 'I will be back, I will find you, and we will win, come back for me!'"

"What happened next?" Teacup heard Sammy asked, wide eyed (yes, she heard his eyes being wide).

"Well, Elmer and I had to go it alone, we didn't bring much gas, and we had a few road fights a few times, giving us the grenades in the pack."

"Grenades!" you should have said," Mike added.

"And if that weren't enough, we got a launcher for them. But on with the story, Elmer and I drove for about a week, until running out of fuel, we had to keep it running all the time, or it wouldn't work anymore. We got only the bare essentials, and a little bottle of gasoline, and a lighter, then walked towards the big hill. Then we found you guys, just lucky I guess," he finally concluded.

"So, since we're done, we need to get moving, we've wasted a lot of time, and from now on, no more stops for at least seven hours, clear?" Evan said

"Sure," Mike said. "But we'll need a plan."

"We can get to that later," Lena said. "Elmer, Edward, do you know the way back?"

"Yes, we do," said Edward. "The base is close to the Canada border, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron."

"My location was wrong…" Evan complained.

"Yeah," Elmer said, "and we also know where the truck is, so you guys can carry more guns, food, and medical supplies, and did I mention we have three functioning batteries?"

"Really!?" Mike asked.

"Yep," Edward said. "Why?

"Gimme!" Mike said. Edward gave it to him, shrugging. Mike took out the Changer, put it in, and said, "I'd like four F-350s, double wheels in the back, never ending gas, already running, with M-60's on the back and the top."

Instantly, those arrived.

"Sweet!" Evan cried. "Let's go! Evan, Justin, and Mike took the first. Teacup, Lena, and Sammy took the next. And Dumbo, Edward, and Elmer took the last, Elmer and Dumbo manning the guns.

The team drove for another hour down the road, before the first problem struck.

* * *

 **Dumbo**

Edward (who wasn't an experienced driver) slipped in some mud, his F-350 rolling off the road and onto its side.

"Edward!" said Elmer, who jumped out of his emplacement. Dumbo followed. They pulled Edward out of the car, he had a gash on his forehead.

"Why did we let _him_ drive?" Elmer asked himself, while Dumbo checked him over.

"Not major," said Dumbo.

"Wait!" said Elmer. "The rest didn't see the crash! They drove on without us!"

"[censored]!" said Dumbo with emotion.

"Now what?" asked Elmer.

"At some point, they'll notice that they're missing us and come back," said Dumbo. "We just need to play the waiting game right here."

Edward was coming to, he started groaning. Immediately, Dumbo ran back over to him.

"Are you dizzy?" he asked.

"Yes," Edward replied. "Very."

Dumbo looked at Elmer. "I think he's got a concussion."

"Oh, God," said Elmer. "How does it feel, bro?"

"It hurts!" said Edward. Dumbo got out a dark towel from his medkit and wrapped it around Edward's eyes. "This way, you won't be able to see anything."

"Great," said Edward. Dumbo applied ice to Edward's head and instructed Elmer to get some sort of camp going.

"You never know how long we'll wait here," Dumbo said gravely.

Elmer waited around for a while, Dumbo keeping Edward comfortable. Elmer, meanwhile, was creating three nests in the sideways car-front. Dumbo and him worked together moving Edward into the comfiest one. Finally, Dumbo and Elmer settled in for a night's sleep.

* * *

 **About three hours later:**

KA-RASH! Dumbo woke up to the sound of the truck flipping the rest of the way over. Elmer and Edward both cried out in surprise at finding themselves on the ceiling of the car, trapped and with no way out.

"That's wonderful!" Edward said after everyone had calmed down and he was informed of the predicament.

"Why do you think that?" asked Elmer, teasing.

"I was being sarcastic you idiot!"

"Guys, how are you? Are you dead? If so, don't talk," Dumbo said.

"We're so dead dummy!" Edward said.

"Oh good, I was afraid that you died," Dumbo added.

"Hey, quick question, what's your real name?" Elmer asked.

"James," Dumbo said.

"As you heard, we had a friend named James, he might still be alive," Edward added.

"Maybe it's me, I do have blank spots in my memory," Dumbo noted.

"You would never forget the adventures we had, or Fortnite," Elmer said.

"I don't mean forget, I mean, like, amnesia!" said Dumbo. "Do I look like your friend!"

"A little bit…" said Edward.

"Oh my God!" said Elmer. "It's you!"

Suddenly, Dumbo was buried under two twins yelling _James!_ And then Dumbo saying _Shhh, they might hear us,_ and the two amigos stopping.

"Bro, what did they do to your face?" Elmer asked.

"Meaning?" Dumbo replied.

"We didn't recognize you before, you do look a lot different," Elmer told him. "It might be the knew muscles. And I think they might've died your hair!"

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Edward.

"Everything!" said Dumbo. "Wait… they must have tampered with my memories!"

Elmer looked thoughtful. "Possible… likely…"

"Definitely!" said Edward. "You got captured, or something… they changed your memories and made you fight for them!"

"For sure," said Dumbo. "So… hi, old friends that I can't remember!"

"Hi!" said Edward. "Thanks for helping my head hurting!"

"But where's everyone else, Sarah and company?" Elmer asked

"I don't know," Dumbo now James said. "I think I remember Caleb telling me to find you guys, they got captured!"

"That means we have to get back to base!" Edward said. "I need my Caleb."

"Right!" James agreed, "but first we have to get you two out of here."

 **End of Chapter Twelve**


	13. 321 Trigger Major Plotpoints!

**Ben Parish**

So this is what Vosch does to us humans: murders seven billion of them; then takes the hardcore and stupid ones and makes them child soldiers; and then takes the hardcore smart ones, kills some of them, takes the rest, uses them as leverage, jacks them up on drugs, and tells them to go capture his elite troops. What a messed up guy.

That's pretty much what he did. Used Cassie and her unborn child to make Ben play Roulette, then putting something in his body called the "12th System", which would basically turn him into Evan Walker. Then, he told Ben that when Evan comes to save him, he is going to capture him.

Why he didn't just hire his normal, experienced Silencers to get Evan, Ben didn't know at the time. Why he even _wanted_ Evan, Ben didn't know either. Until Ringer accidentally told him.

She had come in, and before she left, Ben decided to fiddle with her brain.

"Ringer," he said, "I changed my mind."

She stopped for a moment. "About?"

"I think you were right about who the Others really are," he replied. Ringer narrowed her eyes skeptically.

"Vosch has recruited me to hunt down a certain member of my former team, and that's why he drugged me with the 12th System. But why me? Why not some other random soldiers?"

Ringer looked at me hard. "To sow mistrust in your group, make it harder for them to cooperate."

Ben had what he needed.

Vosch wanted Ben to hunt down and capture Evan in order to make the members of my group not trust one another. He also assumed that Vosch wanted to know what made Evan turn against him.

Despite the fact that he read Ben's and Cassie's memories in Wonderland, and he already knows. He still wanted to mine Evan's.

Doesn't he already know?

There was always the problem of a rock. Why the five Waves of ever-increasing destruction? Why not just a giant asteroid to annihilate all of us at once?

1st Wave: Can't trust technology.

2nd Wave: Can't trust Earth.

3rd Wave: Can't trust animals.

4th Wave: Can't trust each other.

5th Wave: Can't trust yourself.

(Wow. That was really psychological and creative, wasn't it? Nothing like was Rick Yancey already had in the 5th Wave? No? Not creative at all? I'd better just stick to humor….)

* * *

 **All of dem still in the trux.**

While Dumbo (James), Elmer, and Edward crashed and got trapped, the rest of the gang kept on moving, it wasn't until five hours later, and Evan checking his mirror when he noticed.

"Hey!" he yelled to Lena driving the truck behind him.

"What?" she asked.

"Weren't there three trucks?"

"Yeah, there still is."

"I only see one behind me, and that's yours."

"Hold on!"

"Teacup, check behind you for another truck."

Teacup did, and saw nothing. Both trucks decelerated into a stop and the gang decided to wait ten minutes.

"Holy [censored]! The truck must have crashed or something!" Teacup said

"I told you to let Dumbo drive, not Edward!" Lena complained to Evan.

"Calm down," he ordered. "We can just drive back there." So they did.

When they arrived, they saw the F-350, flipped onto it's back. It was smoking: seemed dangerous.

"What the [censored]?" Mike demanded. "What in the actual [censored]? What in the actual flying [censored]?"

"You guys in their?" asked Evan.

"Yeah!" he heard a voice call from within.

"Mike," Lena said, "flip it."

Mike ran over and grabbed the side of the truck. "Hold on, guys!" He flipped it, and heard shouts inside. After it was flipped, he yanked open the door: Dumbo, Elmer and Edward climbed out.

"What happened?" asked Teacup.

"Edward drove," said Elmer and Dumbo in unison. "Now he's got a concussion."

"We figured out that Dumbo is James," said Edward.

"He is?" said Sammy.

"Long story," Dumbo- um… James I guess… replied.

"Can you guys call me Allison, now?" asked Teacup.

"Uh… sure. This'll be hard to remember," said Mike.

"Elmer and Edward," said Lena, "get in my truck. Dumbo, get in Evan's."

"We'll drive to where we turned around, and camp there," said Justin.

* * *

 **Morpheus**

Morpheus was the first to see what had become of Wright-Patterson Airfield, since he was The One and he could fly. What he saw was a giant hole in the ground.

"Hey, guys!" he yelled, "there's a big hole where the base used to be!"

He landed, to see Zhantov running out from the woods, then pulling up in order to avoid falling to his death. Maelstrom and Bakhtov followed shortly after.

"What happened here?" asked Maelstrom.

"Looks like it was obliterated by bombs," said Zhantov.

"While, I guess there's no hope!" said Bakhtov.

"Don't say that!" said Morpheus, "there's always hope. Besides, what else are we going to do anyways?"

"Good point," said Zhantov, "let's split up and look for clues!" (It's Scooby-Doo!)

After about an hour of searching around, Morpheus found something.

"Look!" he said. "Humvee tracks!"

Everyone started running over. Zhantov gasped.

"Where are they going?" asked Bakhtov.

"I think they're headed for a town called Dayton," said Zhantov, "it's in that general direction."

"Well, let's follow them!" said Maelstrom.

* * *

 **Ben Parish**

Ben knew what he had to do. He couldn't let Vosch get his hands on Evan. He couldn't let him figure out the information. He could even help Justin with his mission… to make Cassie love him.

There was only one way to keep Vosch from learning what he needed to learn.

Every human life is worth more than the sum of all things. Which is a paradox. That means that human value is infinite. Evan's value isn't infinite. Evan is Other.

The enemy is Other.

Or is it? How could the Others know how we think, even if they watched us for 10,000 years? How… if they're not human?

Ben dedicated himself to solving this mystery. There's only one thing he must do.

He needs to kill Evan Walker. No matter the pain, or the cost, it must be done.

* * *

 **Cassie**

After about ninety-nine rounds of chess and a few days, the score was, Cassie: two, Ringer: ninety-seven. This game was going to determine who the real master was (I, the author, think it already did). Cassie started out first, moving her pawn. Ringer took steps to move, and enabled her King to be castled. Cassie took the first piece, one of Ringer's pawns, who took Cassie's pawn, then pawn, and then her bishop, and a rook. More obscure moves happened until Ringer forced Cassie into quite an awkward position.

"Ringer you make me angry!"

"That's how you play, it will prove I'm better than you!"

"You already did!" and Cassie took her Pawn.

"Whaaaa?" She sat there mesmerized. "Well you haven't won anything yet Cassie."

"Well, I mean…" Cassie said. Suddenly she took my queen with hers.

"[censored]," Cassie said quietly to herself. She sat there thinking of a way to work out of her near-checkpoint situation. Cassie moved her Pawn forward to threaten Ringer's Bishop. Ringer countered by checking Cassie's King.

"Jerk!" Cassie said. She moved her King to the left one space. Some more obscure moves happened. Ringer took her Knight. Cassie checked the King with her Rook. King moved and Cassie took a Rook. Ringer threatened Cassie's Knight with her Queen: fortunately, the Knight was backed up by another Rook. Cassie took her Knight. Ringer threatened a Rook and checked the King with her Queen. Cassie moved her King. Rook be toast. She moved up her Knight: Ringer moved hers. Cassie threatened her Bishop before realizing that it was backed by a Pawn. Ringer threatened Cassie's Knight with her Queen. Cassie sacrificed her Knight to kill a Bishop. Cassie's Rook moved. Ringer moved her Queen, checking Cassie's Queen. Cassie set up her Rook for a trade: she accepted (cos why not). Rook and Queen both dead. Now she outnumbered Cassie by only a Knight. Ringer moved a Pawn, which Cassie killed, which was then killed by the Knight. Cassie moved a Pawn. More obscure moves.

Cassie promoted her Pawn to a Queen: let's dance, Ringer. More obscure moves. Ringer promoted her Pawn to a Queen: frick, now Cassie's in Check. Cassie got another Queen soon after and auto-checked her. Roll down victory for Cassie.

"Wow, three to ninety-seven," Cassie said, impressed with my lack of skill. "At least I beat you."

"You suck at this game," Ringer replied. That's when the door opened and Colonel Vosch walked in.

"Hey Colonel, wanna play me in Chess?" Ringer asked him. "You could never beat me."

"Not at the moment, but we have pressing news." Vosch said. "This photo is of your gang in moving vehicles, when one of them crashed."

"What did you do to them!" Cassie screamed.

"It wasn't me, but my scouts picked up names and voices. If any of them sound familiar, tell me this instant." And he looked into her eyes with a harsh stare. His eyes were like black holes, ready to implode. His hair, standing straight up.

"I will never tell you anything, I am loyal to my friends," Cassie retorted.

"We'll see, the names are, Elmer, Edward, James, and Dumbo." Vosch reported.

"Huh, Dumbo," Cassie muttered to herself. Unfortunately, Vosch heard.

"So you do know one of them, but there were only three, and two other names were mentioned, Sarah, and Caleb."

"I don't know who they are, or James." Cassie said.

"We have the information on Caleb and Sarah, they came here a while ago when the invasion started." Vosch said evilly, Cassie didn't like where this was going.

"What do you mean, where are they then?" Cassie asked.

"Sarah, hmm, she tried to kill me, we stopped her and tortured her until she died. Caleb was a much bigger help, so we locked him up."

"You fiend!" Cassie said.

"Ringer, bring me Caleb, see if we can get anything about these two, Elmer, and Edward."

"Yes sir!" and she hurried off.

Cassie sitting and waiting, it took forever, but she finally came up, pulling along what looked like a thirteen year-old boy with dark hair. Around his neck was a metal collar, with a chain attached to it. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and his hair was very long.

"What have to done to him, he's not an animal!" Cassie was so angry, she could say the f-word.

"F-word!" Cassie said, quite literally.

"We kept him in a safe location until we could bring him out, and he will help us." Vosch said.

"Where are Elmer, Edward, and James!?" Caleb said in a harsh, scratchy voice.

"Ringer, get him some water," Vosch said.

Ringer stepped out of the room, and Vosch took Caleb's chain in his hand.

"I've never seen this person," Cassie said. "I don't know anything."

"We ran you through Wonderland when you came in here," said Vosch. "We already know everything."

Oh God. That's not good at all.

Ringer came back in with a glass of water: Caleb drank gratefully.

"Caleb," said Vosch. "I'm trying to be nice. If you tell us where they are, we won't have to run you through Wonderland."

"How would I know?" asked Caleb. "I haven't seen them for months!"

"I don't believe you," said Vosch. "I believe you told them to go somewhere."

"I told them to run, and that I'd come for them," Caleb said. "It doesn't actually give anything away, since they could've ran anywhere!"

"Hold on a minute," said Ringer.

"What is it?" asked Vosch.

"Why are you calling Caleb 'Caleb', when he's just an infested [censored]er," said Ringer, "and doesn't deserve a human name?"

Ha! Gotcha!

Vosch looked a bit nervous all of a sudden. Cassie smiled. Ringer looked suspicious.

"You're too smart for your own good, Ringer," said Vosch. Suddenly, he was in action: Ringer's feet were swept out from underneath her. As she fell, Vosch caught her by the hair and flung her into a wall. Next, he came at her: she flung her foot out in a pitiful excuse for a kick. Vosch blocked the kick and grabbed Ringer by her fatigues. He lifted her into the air.

"Don't challenge me," he said calmly.

My perfect opportunity. "Caleb!" Cassie yelled. He looked at me, grabbed his chain, and whipped Vosch around the neck with it: just like a garrote. In the meantime, Cassie grabbed Ringer's dropped sidearm and brought it up to fire. Then, it happened again: the front of her brain let go and gave full control to the back of my brain: the Old Voice whispered to guide her actions.

She turned the safety off. Gun pointed directly between Vosch's shoulder blades: oh, wait, he turned around. Now it's his lungs. Shift aim for the heart. He ran at me.

Squeeze, don't pull.

The sidearm bucked in her hands as she emptied the clip at the torturer of humanity, the killer of the seven-billion who walked this Earth. This is how it ends. This is how humanity wins.

Except it wasn't, because Vosch's hands moved at lightning speed, plucking the bullets out of the air and casting them off to the side. Cassie's clip emptied: Vosch was there, and the gun flew out of her hand. She caught a glimpse of Ringer: she was on the ground, injured. Caleb finally thought to accomplish something, yanking back on the chain that was still wrapped around Vosch's neck as the colonel forced her hands behind her back. Vosch was yanked backwards, which pulled her down on top of him. Hands and feet useless, she used the hardest bone in her body: her skull. She smashed down on his nose, and Cassie heard a crunch. Blood spurted out, and Caleb started cutting off Vosch's circulation around the neck.

Vosch released her hands, standing up with as much force as possible. He stood up so quickly, in fact, that the chain around his neck broke. Cassie was thrown to the floor. Vosch looked down at him and said, "Be gentle. We wouldn't want to kill your future daughter by accident."

 _So it's a girl? Wonder when they figured that out._

She saw Ringer motioning for Cassie to roll to the right. So she did. And Vosch went crashing to the floor right where Cassie was a moment before. Caleb was on his back, chain in hand, pounding at the back of Vosch's head with the lock. Cassie grabbed Ringer's empty sidearm and started pistol-whipping Vosch as well. Soon enough, he stopped struggling and his limp form felt cold.

Cassie looked at Caleb. He looked back.

"Did we just kill Vosch?" Cassie asked.

"I think we did," said Caleb.

"Did we like, just become new best friends?" Cassie asked.

"I think so," he said. "Now let's get out of here. They've got cameras and they're bound to know we've taken him out."

"Wait," Cassie said. "We need to take out our trackers."

"Right!" he replied. Cassie grabbed Vosch's combat knife and worked Caleb's out. Next Cassie's came out.. Then Ringer's.

"Can you walk?" Cassie asked Ringer as she helped her to her feet.

"Yes," she replied.

"Can you run?"

"Maybe."

Cassie pulled Vosch's pistol from his holster and tossed it to Ringer. "Use it well." Ringer nodded. Caleb took the knife. Cassie also reloaded Ringer's sidearm. They ran out of the room.

As they stepped into the hallway, two guards ran forward. Ringer took them both out with perfect shots to the head.

"You guys go get a chopper, or something," Cassie said. "I'm going to get Ben."

"Bro," said Ringer, "you're one of the three people Vosch _doesn't_ want to escape. He doesn't care if I get away. I should go for Ben."

"She has a point," said Caleb.

"Hey, why don't we all go?" Cassie asked.

"Good idea," said Ringer. "I know the way to his ward."

Ringer started jogging off, and they followed closely. Soldiers and Silencers continued to attempt attacks. The team had the advantage since they were typically moving from defensive position to defensive position. At last, they arrived at the door.

"This is the one," said Ringer: she pulled the door open. No one was in the room.

"What the [censored]," said Caleb.

"He's gone," Cassie said. "Or…"

"Or he's switched sides," said Ringer. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

"I agree," said Caleb. Then, the alarms went off.

The daring escape continued, but it progressively got more challenging, guards coming at them from every direction. There was no other option, leave Ben, and come for him later, they had too. Caleb was the first one on the chopper, who immediately examined the controls and figured out how to fly it. He started lifting off, slowly. Ringer was next.

"Jump!" She yelled to Cassie.

She did, grabbing on to the rung of the chopper. Suddenly, Cassie felt a hand grab her ankle.

"Ben?" said Ringer. Cassie looked down, to see Ben standing and holding on.

He was somehow holding it down, keeping it from ascending into the air. What!

"Cassie!" he yelled up. "I don't want to keep those two from getting away!"

"Huh?" Cassie said.

"But this is for the greater good!" he yelled again.

"You are insane!" Caleb yelled at him. Cassie felt a needle plunge into her leg: drowsiness started to overcome her. Cassie's hands let go of the rung as everything went black.

* * *

 ** **Caleb****

"Caleb!" Ringer yelled. "We need to find your friends and land to them."

"Right," Caleb said and turned the helicopter on to full throttle.

"Here are the coordinates last seen," Ringer said, and pulled a piece of paper from here pocket.

Caleb had so many emotions going through his head. He just escaped a place he had been in for several months, and now he might actually see Edward, Elmer, and James. He flew to the coordinates until he started seeing truck tracks.

"Ringer, look!" he yelled over the noise of the chopper.

"Oooh, tracks, follow them, we will find your friends."

Caleb will have held true to his word, he will find Edward the Elmer.

* * *

 **All dem still in the Trux, heading for the base.**

Evan's truck leading, it took a long time to get from point A to point B. Edward was recovering somewhat, while Allison and James were exchanging stories. Mike thought of how far they had come, and when they got back to Zion, if they ever did, what they would eat. He was also deep in thought about Morpheus. _Will they rescue us? And do they even know where we are?_ Deep in his thoughts, he heard James/Dumbo shout out.

"Look out guys and girls, a chopper!" James yelled.

"Prepare for fighting!" Evan ordered.

"NO wait! We come in peace, as friends," someone shouted with a horn.

"Are the three known as Edward, Elmer, and James with you people?" another voice said.

"Yea, I'm Edward," said Edward.

"We're coming down," he said again. The chopper started to touch down, and two people jumped out. It was a girl with pearly skin and dark hair, and was that… Caleb?

"Caleb!" yelled Elmer. Caleb and Elmer embraced, happily. Edward joined them, crying tears of joy. They hugged for a few more minutes, before Caleb let go and ran to James. He smacked him on the back as hard as he could (oof) and hugged him.

"I assume you're Caleb," said James.

"You assume?" asked Caleb. "I'm like one of your best friends!"

"He had amnesia, bro!" said Elmer.

"Oh!" said Caleb.

"I guess we need hotdogs, then…" said Mike. He sighed and started making a fire.

Everyone was happy, except for the alpha males: Justin and Evan, who wanted ever so badly to see Cassie, Evan didn't miss a beat.

"Where're Cassie and Ben!?" he said angrily.

"Yeah, about that," Caleb started. "Cassie didn't make it, she's still alive though. Ben grabbed her right before she made it."

"What why?" Justin asked

"I don't know, we think he's gone insane!" Ringer said.

"And now to rescue him, we need to turn him back into good." Caleb explained.

"Ben was pretty quiet for most of the time," Ringer said. "He was thinking, perhaps a bit too hard. I remember him asking me why Vosch wanted to use him to capture an Evan."

"Speaking of Vosch, I think he's dead," Caleb said.

"Wonderful!" said Lena. "Who killed him?"

"Me and Cassie beat him up with pistols and a padlock," Caleb replied.

" _That_ killed him?" asked Justin skeptically. "I don't think so. He's probably alive."

"Wow, Justin," said James. "Way to kill a good mood."

"No, I just logicked," he replied.

"Thou has goodly grammarziz," said Mike, as he roasted his signature hot dogs.

"I doth knoweth thateth," Justin replied.

"Miketh, when are those hot dogs ready?" Elmer asked.

"Give me five minutes," he replied.

"Guys, we need to move soon," said Ringer. "Vosch's protocol on escaped prisoners is quite strict, as he made evident after you guys ran away."

"What's his protocol?" Allison asked. "Also, who the [censored] are you? Why are we welcoming you so easily, after you killed Poundcake?"

The silence was deafening. Everyone's eyes (except Caleb's, Elmer's, and Edward's) were focused on Ringer.

" _You_ killed Poundcake?" said Mike, dropping a hot dog in the fire as he stood up, "That was you?"

"Um…"

Mike leapt forward with the savagery of a lion, tackling her to the ground. Ringer kicked upward, her foot sinking deep into Mike's stomach. Mike fell backwards and Ringer's sidearm came out, pointing at Mike's face. Immediately, every other gun came out pointing at Ringer.

"Put the pistol down, Sergeant," said Justin menacingly.

"If you put your rifle down," said Ringer. "If you don't, I'll kill him."

"If you kill him, we'll kill you," said Elmer. "And if you go anywhere within one-hundred fifty yards, I can hit you easily!"

"How should I know that when I put down my gun, you guys won't turn me into swiss cheese?" asked Ringer.

"How do _we_ know that if we put our guns down, you won't waste Mike?" asked Justin.

"Why would I do that?" said Ringer.

"Because he attacked you," said Teacup.

"No," said Evan, "put the guns down."

"Why?" asked Justin.

"Do it," Evan said, with a dark undertone. He dropped his sniper. Slowly, but surely, Justin's gun barrel dipped towards the ground. And then it dropped. Safety on. Everyone else's guns followed, including Ringer's.

"We thought you were dangerous Dorothys at the time," said Ringer. "And your own Poundcake killed one of _my_ squadmates, too."

Guilt. Awkwardness.

Mike snapped them out of it. "So… do we still want hot dogs?"

* * *

 **Ben**

Ben Parish was alive. Then he died. There was no Ben Parish. There was only Zombie. Then there was Ben Parish again. Ben Parish has died again. And in his place is Zombie.

Zombie, the most loyal traitor you've ever met. The one with stone for skin, a heart of ice, and liquid nitrogen for blood. The one who betrayed his friends to save them.

You may be asking why he did it. Why he let Ringer and the other boy escape, but didn't let Cassie. Why his mission is to kill Evan Walker. Why he resuscitated Vosch instead of letting him die. Why he is now a Major, high in the command chain of Vosch's Others.

If Evan lives, then Vosch will learn the flaw in the system and fix that flaw, so that no more Silencers will convert to the human side. So Ben must kill him, to deny Vosch the opportunity. Vosch is also his best chance to kill him, and the best location is here at this base. Ben needed Cassie to stay so he could lure Evan here more effectively. Even if he had let Vosch die, another Other would just rise up to take his place.

There's his explanation. His choices are justified.

Turns out that the 12th System self-installed pretty quick. Apparently, for most people it would a month to a few months, but Ben's infinite luck got him through during the five days they were prisoners.

So ya (Perfect conclusion).

* * *

 **Evan Walker**

With their three trucks, they drove five more days, with a bit of delay. It was tough-going: forests, and annoying geographical features. A couple times, Mike and Evan had to push the trucks up forty-five degree slopes. They also had to deal with various random silencers popping up all over the place. They lived mostly off Caleb's Wilderness Pancakes, Ringer's Health Salads, and Mike's Patented Hot Dogs. But none of these things were major problems.

They found their main problem near the Michigan border.

The team was driving around: Evan was in the middle truck driving, while Justin drove in front and Ringer drove in the back. Suddenly, Evan noticed a sharp drop off, probably caused by earthquakes in the 2nd Wave. He had no time to warn Justin: his truck plummeted off the drop off, though Evan's reflexes saved the day.

As soon as he knew the front truck was going to fall, he gave the wheel to Lena, punched out the window, and climbed onto the hood. As the truck started falling, Evan reached his hands out and grabbed the back of the F-350 in front of me.

"LENA!" Evan yelled backwards, "TELL EVERYONE TO REVERSE!"

"Doing it now!" she yelled. "Everyone, reverse- actually, Mike, grab the back of _my_ truck first!"

"Go!" Evan yelled. The truck reversed at full speed, pulling the other truck over the lip of the cliff.

"Phew! That was an anti-climatic climax," said Justin.

"We might've all died!" Lena said happily.

"Yeah, but we need to leave behind all the trucks," Evan said.

"What, why?" asked Elmer.

"Because there's a big cliff, and we can't really drive over a cliff," Evan replied.

"So how the [censored] are we supposed to get over it?!" Allison asked.

"We climb down. Duh," Mike replied.

"Okay, if you say so," said Caleb. "But it might be difficult for the little ones."

"Oh!" Evan said. "We shall carry them."

So they did. It wasn't very difficult, only like twenty feet. Once they reached the bottom, they started to hike further into Michigan.

"We have about, let's see," Evan said, thinking hard and staring up into the sky thoughtfully.

"How far do we have, Evan?" asked Elmer impatiently.

"About four-hundred ninety miles," Evan replied. Allison spat out the lettuce she was chewing.

"Four-hundred ninety miles" Allison spat. "How the [censored] are we supposed to do that!?"

"It will take some time," Justin agreed.

"But I know we can do it!" Edward said confidently.

"We came up here a different way," Elmer remarked. "We could use the trucks to take that path."

"Remember, Elmer?" Edward said. "Vosch is defending that path, in case we decide to go that way."

"Then we'd better get hiking," James decided.

"That's right, keep up the good work everyone," Evan said.

"Now what?" Lena aksed.

"We keep moving, what else?" Mike told them.

"Easy for you to say, you and Evan are so fast and strong, it's not fair," Allison said.

"Life isn't fair, and we need to get to places!" Lena said.

"I like your thinking Lena, you're a destined, um, person who motivates people," Edward complimented.

"We can move slowly, just we don't sit here not doing anything," Justin said (I am an English teacher, and I approve of this message).

"Bro," said Mike, "time is precious. Keep in mind that next year, the 5th Wave will officially launch. At that point, it doesn't matter if we save Cassie and Ben or not. The cities will be gone and the child-soldiers will roll over this world. They would kill us and Cassie and Ben. And there would be no cities, meaning no hope of technology, meaning no phones and redpills, meaning no escape."

"Um, what?" asked Ringer confusedly.

"Mike has a point," Evan said. "I say that most of us who are strong and fast move forward at a quick pace. We leave one of our older people behind to watch the youngsters."

"Hmm…" said Elmer. "I guess that's a good idea."

"How about we have Mike, Justin, Evan, Lena, Ringer, and Elmer go forward," said James.

"And the rest follow behind slowly," Lena finished.

"Exactly!" James replied.

"Sounds good to me," said Caleb.

" _I_ wanna go forward!" Sammy said stubbornly. "Kill some aliens!"

"For the love of God!" Justin said. "Just do as you're told!"

"Fine," said Sammy resentfully.

And so they parted. Splitting up: always a dangerous task in movies. They might never see each other again.

* * *

 **Cassie**

Ben Parish. School crush since third grade. Zombie. Brother's role model and constant competitor. Leader of Squad-53. The one _least_ likely to turn traitor… or so she thought.

Vosch was still alive, apparently. All their work beating him about the head and trying to break his neck gone to waste. [censored] you, Ben. [censored] you, Vosch.

The door of the ward opened: Ben- no, he's Zombie again- walked in. He had officially replaced Ringer as Cassie's waitress.

"Hey," said Ben, "I'm sorry about that."

"You say that every time you come in, yet you never mean it," Cassie replied.

"It's true, though," he replied. Setting down a laden tray of breakfast. Cassie always refused to eat until he left. No food in the presence of the devil. Ben left the room.

Life is boring, and lame.

* * *

 **Mike**

The next fifteen days were the hardest days of Mike's life, as they constantly ran to get to Vosch's base as early as possible. Mike referred to those days in his life calendar as Fifteen Days of Hell. It seemed right, they had a week in the navy seals called Hell Week, that was probably much more hard. Evan and Elmer were constantly in the lead, looking out for the baddies.

Fights with Silencers weren't exactly uncommon. There was this one time, they were just walking through a lush tall forest. Evan told us to be on our feet, this was the perfect place for an ambush. Instead of listening, Mike took to his pun. But, he was right. Silencer came out of nowhere. They yelled to the back to take cover, as they all shot their guns. Mike hid with Lena and Elmer behind a tree, while Justin, Ringer, and Evan were behind another. It was almost on top of them, when Elmer got up, and shot it in both eyes, the ears, and right between the eyes. It was still alive, but its sight and hearing were badly damaged, tanks to Elmer. The rest came up, and they went around the silencer, quietly. Ringer, apparently, hadn't had enough. She took two grenades out of Elmer's pack, and blew the Silencer up. If you didn't know, Silencers have a great sense of direction. Once he knew where they were, he came to them. Not even Elmer's superior shooting could hurt it. Until Evan pulled out his sniper and shot it right in the head. Ringer finished it off by a decapitation.

Evan mentioned to the group that the Silencer was a whole lot tougher than most: he said that pretty much one major wound to the head would be enough to do one in. Since then, no one ever figured out that particular Silencer's gift.

The final day of running resulted in less Silencer fights and more helicopter sightings: Evan and Ringer both told them that it was a sign that we were getting closer. Finally, in the waning hours of the day, they saw the lights of Vosch's new HQ. Soon enough, the team was there.

They saw the base from the south side, since that's the direction they were coming from. The main gate was on the west side: from the group's side they saw helicopter pads and two multi-story compounds. There were also several barrack-buildings that looked quite intimidating. They decided that we would make some sort of camouflaged campsite in the woods, post watches to catch the follow-up group when they arrived, and start scouting the base.

The next night, everyone was asleep, and Lena and Mike were sitting around the (cleverly camouflaged) fire.

"You never know, Lena," Mike said.

Lena looked up from her work. "What?"

"We could die tomorrow," ole replied. "Or the next day, or the one after that, or the one after that…"

"Your point?" Lena asked.

"There's only so much time," Mike replied. "I mean, we've gotta die someday, right?"

"Since when did you go all intellectual?" Lena replied.

"Yesterday," Mike answered. Lena nodded.

They sat there awkwardly for a while.

Mike decided to be bold. "Lena," he said. Nerve racking.

"You love me," she said. Thanks for making it easier.

"Yeah," Mike replied, relieved that I didn't have to say it myself.

Lena looked at me. "Love is nothing but simple chemistry."

Mike sighed.

"Let's just say you make me react."

(That was extremely awkward to write).

 **End of Chapter Thirteen**


	14. The Most Important Chapter Yet

**Justin**

Justin was really excited for the next few coming days. He was ready for the toughest mission yet. It would be tricky, but with all of them combined, and a solid plan, he was convinced they could pull this one off. His first mission, had been from Morpheus. How he missed Morpheus. Just two years ago, Morpheus had gone back without them, and they were left behind. He hoped he would come and rescue them, so they could go back home. Home, the thought gave Justin goosebumps. If he made it through this, he would get back to Zion. The thought of losing entered his mind. The odds of success were very slim, it was only about eleven of them, versus hundreds of child soldiers and dozens of Silencers. If they somehow did rescue Cassie and Ben, and make it out alive, they still had to fight more battles to come. And killing children, that would be hard to do.

Lena and Mike had been closer lately: Justin suspected a bit of romance was playing about between them. He couldn't help but think that they were lucky: they had no competitors, whereas Evan had beat Justin to Cassie. _If only Cassie was a year younger,_ he thought to himself. _She would've gone to the base with us, and I would've had my chance._

"Justin," said Lena. Justin quit his brooding and got up. "We're gonna have some sort of meeting. Plan and stuff."

"Great!" said Justin. Something to do besides looking at cool helicopters through binoculars. He got up and followed Lena into the easy-up that Evan sat up for planning in. Ringer, Evan, and Mike were already sitting around the table. Justin and Lena sat down.

"Can we start now?" asked Mike.

"No, Elmer isn't here yet," Evan replied.

"Now I am," Elmer said, walking over and sitting down at the table.

"Great, now we can start!" Mike said.

"Okay!" said Evan. "Now, let's start planning! I know Ringer has been doing some work, making a map, and I've also made an important discovery. But first, you guys present your knowledge."

"Lena and I figured out some random [censored]," Mike said. "Counting with numbers. There're about fifty- no, forty-seven- sixty-eight-"

"I'll take over now," Lena interrupted. "We've meticulously counted out about forty-eight attack helicopters, twenty-three tanks, and seventy-three humvees. We estimate that there are four hundred sixty-eight child soldiers, and ninety silencers."

"Should be fun," Justin replied. "I've started a routine chart of the daily routines." Justin pulled out a piece of notebook paper with several schedules written on it. "We'll probably need this when we're actually planning the rescue."

"Yes, speaking of that rescue," said Elmer. "I'm just curious, how many people are going to die to save two people from the Others? What if five of us died? Is that worth it?"

"You would've gone straight in if Caleb was still a prisoner there!" Mike retorted. Elmer blushed.

"Elmer," said Evan, "as soon as we decide that one human doesn't matter, They've already won."

"Well, you're one of them!" said Elmer. Evan stood up quickly and started walking around the table towards Elmer.

"Guys," said Lena, "stop." She had used her command voice, the kind she always used when speaking to her dogs. Evan stopped walking and returned to his seat.

"Okay, moving on," said Lena briskly. Ringer held up a mostly completed map of the base.

"We'll probably need this, as well," she said.

"Yes," Evan replied. "Now, I've discovered something very important."

"What is that?" Justin asked.

"You know, when we were at the cabin, planning how to blow up the Mothership, and I mentioned Vosch had a mechanism to blow it up if he needed?" Evan asked.

"Ya," Lena replied.

"Well, it's here, in the base," Evan replied. "And it's due to fly up to the Mothership on the day of our attack. We can split up: some of us go looking for Cassie and Ben, while some others go trigger Vosch's device."

Silence.

"Genius," Justin replied. "We can save Cassie and Ben, and take out the Mothership to prevent the 5th Wave next spring."

"Exactly," Evan replied. "Now, we need to finish scouting out the base. Justin, finish your schedules. Lena and Mike, finish counting. Ringer, finish your map. Elmer, keep an eye out for the rest of the gang."

And so they did.

* * *

After four days of scouting, the rest of the intrepid team still hadn't caught up. Evan estimated that they would arrive tomorrow. Now, Justin and the Advance Guard were gathered under Evan's easy-up for the planning session.

"So," said Evan, "we've finished gathering information, for the most part. Does anyone have additional information before we begin formal planning?"

"I've got a full map," said Ringer.

"I've got a full schedule," Justin added.

"Anything else?" asked Evan.

"Nothing," Elmer, Mike, and Lena all said at the same time.

"Alright," said Evan. "It's time to begin formal planning. The first question is whether we should strike by day or by night."

"Well, at night, there will be less people out and about," said Lena. "We'll have a nice surprise. However, if we attacked anywhere within an hour of midnight, we probably wouldn't be able to destroy the Mothership."

"Plus, if we attack by night, we'll have limited visibility," said Justin, "and they have eyepieces to see us with."

"We could always get trackers," said Mike, "that way, we won't glow."

"But if we put in trackers, they can use the kill switch," said Lena, "so we'll have to glow."

"Good point," said Mike.

"In the day time, we'll have similar levels of visibility," Elmer said, "but there will be a whole lot more people threatening our survival."

"I think that striking by day is extremely counter-productive," Ringer added. "I think a strike at ten o'clock would be best. The sun will be down, and we'd have two hours to take out the device. It'd be especially nice if it were raining."

"Yes," said Evan. "I think that's a good idea. All in favor say 'Aye."

"Aye," said Lena.

"Aye," said Elmer.

"Aye," said Justin.

"Already majority, your vote doesn't matter, Mike," said Evan. Mike looked depressed.

"I suppose we need to make the actual plan now?" Ringer interjected. Evan nodded.

"Any ideas?" he asked the collective.

"Say, Evan," Justin said, "why don't we race to the prisoners? I'll go to the Prison Wards, and you to the Jail." Justin leaned over, and whispered in Evan's ear: " _Whoever finds Cassie first gets her._ "

" _You're on!_ " he replied whispering. "Sounds like a good idea," Evan said to the public audience.

"Meanwhile, I'll take Mike and Caleb," said Lena. "We'll cut through the center of the base to Vosch's device and trigger it."

"Okay, fine," Evan said.

"I'll go on a sniping campaign with Elmer and Edward," said Ringer. "Elmer and I are the best shots and we can hopefully wreak some havoc from the high ground."

"Right," Evan said again. "I'll delegate James and Allison to go cause a power outage and trigger the sprinkler systems. Hopefully, that'll cause problems."

"Right, and Sammy will stay behind to protect the Camp," Justin added.

"Alone? I don't think so," Lena said.

"I guess Edward can stay with him," said Ringer.

"Okay, good," Lena replied.

"Sounds like a solid plan, I guess," Evan said. "Now we need backup plans. We need to think of everything that could possibly go wrong and make plans for them…"

Oh boy. This could take a while, but it would be all worth it.

* * *

 **Morpheus and Those Guys**

Morpheus and his friends (friends? Coworkers?) were hiding in a bush. Why were they hiding in a bush? Well, they were hiding in a bush because of the people walking by.

Days ago, they had discovered the decimated remains of a log cabin. The remains were slightly recent: still smoldering, blackened. Leading away from the cabin to the north were footprints. The group had followed those prints until they changed to tire tracks: they had lost the trail near a cliff, but had found it shortly after. But this group of strangers didn't include Mike, Lena, or Justin. Which meant that the trail ended there. Time to backtrack and find new prints. Sigh.

* * *

 **Zombie 1st Person Trapezoid Happiness (present tense for some reason)**

Vosch trusts me now… but he refuses to trust me. He's placed me in command of about eight Silencers and a few squads of Child Soldiers. He's given me a new uniform and a new rank. He's also given me the task of capturing Evan Walker, as y'all know.

What he doesn't know of is my plan to kill Evan Walker.

Cassie hates me now. Understandable, since I didn't let her get away. I totally get it. It was for the greater good.

The end.

* * *

 **Mike**

Evan spent a large chunk of time with the group, creating backup plans, and then backup plans in case the first backup plans failed. Mike was thoroughly bored through it, but at least he was satisfied that nothing that went wrong would actually cause the plan to fail.

Afterwards, they had got up and went about their business: for most, sleeping. For Mike, watching. He shouldered his M16 and sat next to the fire, alone, all night. Nothing came to threaten the survival of his friends.

In the morning, Mike was too exhausted to stay awake for another second, but somehow, he kept his eyes open. He kept them open long enough to see Edward and Dumbo- no, he's James- walking into camp, followed by Allison, Caleb, and Sammy, before he collapsed on the log and went to sleep.

The next morning- no, evening, he had slept through the whole day- he woke to see Evan and Ringer giving the five newcomers the run-down on the plan. They were eating burnt hot dogs (no one in the group could make hot dogs except Mike) and some wilderness herb thingos. Mike got up and walked over, grabbing a hot dog (squirrel meat, probably) and sitting down.

"...and Edward stays at camp with Sammy," Evan finished.

"What?" said Edward and Sammy at the exact same time.

"I wanna kill Aliens!" Sammy exclaimed.

"I wanna stay with my brother!" Edward added. "And not be bored to death by a seven year old."

"Hey!" Sam said.

"Sammy, I've had enough of your antics!" Evan said strictly. "Your seven frickin' years old, you can barely pick up a rifle, and you can't shoot worth a [censored]! Down there, we're gonna be dealing with near-indestructible aliens and legions of indoctrinated children, and both of them would kill you in the blink of an eye! And Edward," Evan turned his attention to him, "we both know that you would be the _least_ helpful person in this group in a combat situation, besides Sammy. And that isn't because of your innate lack of talent, it's because you have a concussion, and you should still be wearing your blindfold. We both know that if no one stayed with Sammy, he'd run off and get himself killed by some son of a [censored] alien, and I think we should leave behind the _least_ useful member of our group so that we lose the _least_ amount of valuable combat skill on baby-sitting!"

Sammy's bottom lip started to stick out and quiver a little bit. Edward just hung his head, blushing. "You're right, Evan," he said sadly. "But when this concussion wears off, I'll show you all!"

* * *

Nineteen days of sitting in the woods, training, getting ready. Constant strength training, shooting practice with makeshift blowguns, aerobics, and having the Plan and the Backup Plans all drilled into our heads over and over again until our only daily thoughts were Evan's voice repeating the plan in our heads over and over again.

12:00 PM, May 31st 2020: slightly overcast, progressively getting cloudier. Looks like rain. Perfect weather for a Rescue/Destroy mission.

Everyone had just finished a final Plan Rehearsal with Evan, and they were now getting geared for the attack. Disassembling guns and cleaning them out. Finding every additional scrap of ammo around camp and distributing them. Traveling around the woods making sure the way was safe. Camouflaging their clothes. Ringer and Elmer had started the five-or-so mile trek up to a plateau overlooking the base.

Mike was watching the base: he was assigned to keeping an eye out through Evan's binoculars and making sure nothing drastic occured. A plan in the making for near a month couldn't fail because of a tank movement. Mike kept up the eyes.

After a bit, the group gathered for lunch. The meal was taken in silence and suspense for the upcoming mission. Evan kept mouthing words, probably reviewing the plan over and over again. Lena was chewing her nails.

We finished lunch. I went back to watching.

We sat silently at the base, loading ammo, packing packs. At dinner, we prepared to eat a last meal before the mission (I was reminded of the Last Supper). After dinner, we met up again to get ready. Taking a surplus checklist.

"Everyone have a gun?" asked Evan. Yes.

"Everyone have at least one-hundred bullets?" No, Dumbo needs to get two. He gets them.

"Camouflaged clothes?" Yes.

And we went down a long list of surplus that was probably written up by Evan. It took nearly two hours: insanity. Eight o'clock. Now time for everyone to get into position.

We crept through the woods in the dying light, guns out with safety on. Eventually, members broke off until we were all in our correct locations. Surrounding the base. Nine o'clock. One hour 'till mission launch.

* * *

 **Justin**

In position, ready to go. Five minutes. Evan was on the other side of the base. Five minutes. Four minutes. Three minutes. Two minutes. One minute… Go!

Justin heard the signal from above: the harsh report of M16 fire, and then bullets. Ringer was in action. Justin ran for the gate, under fire from two Silencers: no bullets did anything. The Silencers decided to take cover, but too late. A grenade blew up in their faces, after being chucked from Justin's hand.

Immediately afterward, Justin vaulted over the guardpost, ducking down to avoid projectiles. Sirens began blaring after a couple seconds: Justin took safety off on his M16. He leaned over the top and started firing pell-mell at random things. Silencers dropped. Kids dropped (sadness). Gas exploded. Fires happened.

Justin jumped over and sprinted across the tarmac. There was utter chaos, and no one was able to get any shots at him in the discord. Justin kicked down a door into the hospital. _Now to the prison wards…_

* * *

 **Ringer**

"Why aren't you shooting?" Ringer asked Elmer, loudly over the sound of her rifle.

"I just remembered that this is way too far to shoot accurately with a six-shot revolver," Elmer replied, "and that's all I brought!"

"What?!" Ringer asked incredulously.

"I said, I-"

"I know what you said!" Ringer yelled again. "But you are officially useless up here! Get down there, and kill some plebs!"

"Okay, okay!" Elmer replied angrily. He started running down the stairs. Ringer sighed and went back to shooting.

* * *

 **Evan**

Evan went after Justin on purpose: Justin would last longer under fire, and Evan needed a suitable distraction. So he was grateful when he saw people dropping dead and gas reservoirs exploding.

He leapt from his hiding place and sprinted into the base, flipping off some guards on the way, before rolling under a humvee. M16 fire glanced off the ground in front of Evan's face: he saw several squads of Child Soldiers and Silencers firing at him from across the tarmac.

Evan slid out from under the humvee on the other side and climbed into the machine-gun turret. He fired it up, before unloading bullets at the Child Soldiers and the Silencers. After they were all dead, he hopped out and started running between two facilities to the small office, out of which a staircase leading to an underground prison would project. Evan kicked down the door: two guards and some personnel dude guy started in fear. One ran for an Emergency Alarm, but Evan grabbed him, whipped him around and used him to block bullets from another soldier. That one was dead very soon after, from his comrade's M16, and the personnel dude guy's head was bashed in from a sniper stock. Evan started down the stairs.

* * *

 **Lena**

Mike punched down the door, and the three friends impaled straight into the base. The wall was near a facility, making it quite easy for Lena, Caleb, and Mike to pass into the building. Time for some urban warfare.

Around the corner were some kids: the trio fired bullets while running forward, and the kids scattered for dear life. They continued down the hall, shooting everything that wasn't them until they managed to duck into an access shaft.

They ran through the shaft, eventually emerging into the base's central compound. It was the largest compound in the base, the most secure by far, and the hardest to navigate. Mike looked at Lena, nodded, and peeled off down the left corridor. Lena went right. Caleb went straight down the middle.

* * *

 **Cassie POV 1st**

I heard the sounds of the alarm, which woke me from my nap. I sat up quickly, throwing the bedspread off: I was wearing a hospital gown. I jumped up: time to escape. This time, however, instead of going for the door, I went out the window and onto the roof just outside: it was way too far to jump, but I could creep along the room until I found something worthwhile.

I did so a few minutes later, when I spotted a fully uniformed soldier around my size inside another prison ward, for whatever reason. I kicked out the window, reaching in to grab his gun from his holster and shoot him in the back of the head. I climb in the room, switch our clothes out, grab his gun, and step into the hallway.

* * *

 **Dumbo 1st**

Teacup and I, who were the youngers in the group, came in through an unconventional route. We dashed around the base for a while, looking for a suitable entry point near enough to the power facility for us to use. It was a while 'till we found it: the ditch going under the electrified fence that led down to the dungeons, probably. I still don't know why Evan didn't just go that way. But anyways, we climbed under the fence, and pulled ourselves up directly behind the power facility. Soon enough.

* * *

 **Edward**

A few minutes after nine, They came. The Silencers.

About ten of them, probably, came trooping up, not bothering to conceal themselves at all. Edward and Sammy hid themselves inside the bushes, behind logs and deep in the overgrowth. The Silencers sat down in the camp and called out.

"We know you're in there," they said.

Sammy and Edward stayed quiet.

"But we won't come for you," they said again. "You know what we know. If you get up to run or fight, you are cut down by bullets. But if you stay there, you thirst to death, slowly. We don't need to leave. We've already got the kill."

Edward agreed with them completely. He also knew that if he failed to protect Sammy, he failed his mission. _Do they know how many of us are here?_

It was a difficult decision, but Edward knew he had to do it. He hastily scrawled a message in the dirt to Sammy. Sammy looked at him with those big, pleading eyes. _You can't,_ they seemed to say. _I don't want anyone to die for my sake._

And my eyes replied, _It must happen._

I stood up. "Take me mother [censored]ers!"

And ten bullets entered his body at the exact same time. And the lead Silencer got up. And motioned to his friends. And they left. They left Sammy, crying silently in the bushes, knowing that he couldn't get up yet.

The first fatality.

* * *

 **Justin**

The lower hospital was mostly empty of guards, and Justin was able to walk through with an impressive ease. The Prison Wards were more heavily guarded, and Justin had a harder time marching through and checking every ward. But the guards were really nothing compared to what happened next.

Cassie wasn't in her ward. She wasn't in any of the wards. She was simply gone. Justin cursed his bad luck: now Evan was gonna find her in the prisons, and he would lose. [censored]it.

Then, Justin saw Ben walking toward him purposely. Justin reacted quickly, knowing Ben to be an enemy now, and raised his rifle.

"Ben, stop!" he said in a commanding voice. Ben did stop. And he smiled.

"Nice to see you again, Justin," he said. "I don't want to kill you. And I want Vosch dead as much as you."

"Then why haven't you killed him yet?" Justin asked.

"Because he's my only chance to save Humanity," Ben replied. Then, with an unmatched quickness, he crossed the hall, and the rifle flew from Justin's hands. Ben's foot flew, and sank into Justin's stomach. Justin doubled over, clutching his stomach, giving Ben the perfect opportunity to knee him in the head. Justin stumbled backward, dazed, and collapsed against the wall in a sitting position.

"Don't you understand?" said Ben. "The only way is to kill Evan Walker."

Then he took off down the hallway and disappeared around a corner.

* * *

 **Elmer**

Just hiking down the cliff… wait, is that gunshots? From the camp? Elmer started sprinting down as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

 **Evan**

Evan reached the bottom of the prison stairs in a hurry, and viewed the cell-block map. There were several cells, with only a few occupied. There was also an unmanned control panel, with the ability to select a cell and unlock it from the panel, or an Unlock All Cells option. Evan hit that one.

All the heavy iron doors flew open at one: there weren't exactly a huge amount of inmates (twenty or so), but they all started rushing for the exit as quick as possible. Evan sighed: he didn't see Cassie in the mass of inmates. He decided he would leave through the exit on the other side, which led to the Prison Wards: maybe he could get lucky and find Cassie before Justin did, there.

At the bottom of the Prison Ward stairs stood Ben Parish, glowering at Evan.

"Evan, if you do this willingly, we won't have to waste any time," said Ben.

"Ben," Evan replied warily, "I don't want to hurt you-"

But he was cut off by Ben flying through the air and locking arms with Evan. Evan fought back, kicking out at Ben wildly, but Ben managed to block it. He swung at Evan's face, but Evan dodged before pulling out his rifle. Safety off: too late, as Evan fired, Ben kicked the bottom of the gun, which sent the bullet spinning off into the stone ceiling. Next, Ben had grabbed Evan's rifle and snapped it in half.

Oh boy. Long fight.

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena moved at a slow pace through the compound due to heavy guard presence: much difficult combat took place between her and Silencers and children. She made it about a third the way to the center of the building. She imagined Mike was having an easier time, since he was ultra strong.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike could obviously fight much better than Lena, and she obviously thought he was having an easier time. But he wasn't: he lacked Lena's intelligence and memory, and soon lost himself in the corridors of Central Facility. RIP.

* * *

 **Cassie FPPOV**

I ran for the exit, unopposed. Through the corridors, one by one, until I got to the exit. Vosch stood in front of the exit.

"Hello, Cassie," he said in a bored voice. "Why are you leaving, when you could just as well be staying?"

Aw, frick. Why Vosch? Why here?

"Uh…" I was at a loss for words… until I got an amazing idea. "Colonel, I, the great Cassiopeia Sullivan, challenge you to a Rap Battle!"

Vosch looked confused. "What?"

"Oh, come on," I said. "You don't know what a Rap Battle is?"

"Of course I know what a Rap Battle is," said Vosch. "Except… I've really got better things to do right now…"

"Chicken!" I said meanly.

"Fine!" Vosch replied, hurt.

"Okay, let's get started!" Suddenly, there were random beats in the background. I went first.

 _Start of slow…_

 **Someone I know is named Alexander Vosch,**

 **I always thought his brain was nothing but posh,**

 **Because he's obviously a bit brainwash,**

 **He's about as click-baity as that UTuber Tosh!**

 _Start the buildup_

 **So today I am a-gonna teach him that,**

 **The truth about his weight, he's actually fat!**

 **His face looks like a rat,**

 **The only roast he has is THAT (points at his face)**

 **His eyes like deer scat!**

 **Let's go tit for tat!**

 _Drop it_

 **Personally I think that Voschy is just unlucky,**

 **And that his tiny little brain is super sucky and snucky,**

 **He would run from a rubber ducky,**

 **Honestly, what's so [censored]ing**

 **Different between his face and the face of Chucky!**

 **Thinks he's intimidating!**

 **But the only one he's dating,**

 **Is his own reflection,**

 **He thinks it's excellent perfection,**

 **But everybody knows,**

 **That the hate can only grow!**

 **You're so boring, you can't even entertain a doubt!**

 **Your name is the name that the circus clowns shout!**

 **Cos your face is a horror film, and the rest of your life ain't chill,**

 **As I stand here rapping I can burn and drill!**

Vosch looked at me. Then he started bawling with laughter.

"Cassie," he said between giggles, "that was the worst- the worst rap I've ever-" Then he descended back into a state of giggles.

"Die now," I said, whipping out my sidearm and blasting three neat holes in his head. Vosch fell on the ground, an expression of humor etched onto his face forever. I walked out the door calmly and onto the tarmac.

* * *

 **Elmer 1st person**

I was on the way down the hill when they came for me. Because I was the best shot in the whole world, It wasn't that hard for me to pick baddies off. One after the other, they fell. I actually counted, the farthest one was about 250 yards, a lucky shot. This was as easy as in Fortnite. Then came the hard part, the Children! About 150 of them, decided to start chasing me. I had been avoiding the kids all day. I used all six bullets on the legs of them, knowing and hoping the would live. They stumbled, and then all the rest fell over. I burst into laughter at the sight. Some of them got back up, and started shooting at me. "Di Immortales!" I said quietly to myself. I ran to a little eating table, gunfire all around me. I hurried to reload my 2 guns, taking cover as I dove. I fell like a beaking LEGO set, hard! The kids shot at me a little, but then surrounded me. I had to think of something, or this was the end, of Elmer the Sharp!

 **Ringer 1st person**

I saw the whole thing unfold form my high spot. I first picked guys off, aiming for the chest and head. I noted how many I killed, and estimated the sum was about 50. And I had used almost my entire clip. I also saw Elmer running here and there, shooting bad guys like a boss, or pro. This one shot was like 200 yards away, he was just %#! lucky. He disappeared behind a wall for a few minutes, so I can only guess what happened at that time. Then, a whole mess of Battle Kids stormed out. I looked as Elmer shot them, and they all fell. I did a fist pump, and was ready to signal him. Some of the kids recovered quick, and got back up. Elmer took cover in a lodge dealy thing, while they pursued him, and fired a few quick shots. They had him surrounded, and I hoped he lived, we couldn't lose anyone, not today, not ever. After a few minutes of watching and praying, he got up, and shook hands with 1 of them. I was confused, and he saw me, and signaled me to come down. I hope this was good, I was abandoning my post, I didn't like defying orders.

 **Evan fppov**

What a long fight it was. After he broke my gun, I threw a bullet at him. Lucky shot, because it hit him in the chest. He winced, and I took that as an opportunity, not to get him, but to escape. I ran like [censored], and Ben was right on my tail. He got so close to me, that he tried to grab me, but I ducked and did a somersault. Ben missed me, tumbled, and hit a wall. He was quite dazed, so I took some rope and tied him up. It would only hold him for 2 minutes at most. I went back to finding Cassie. Turning here and there, biffing and boffing baddies in my way. I looked outside to see where Ringer was, but she wasn't on the cliff anymore. She was most likely somewhere, but she wasn't at her post, What the %# !. This was the whole plan. Putting that aside, I grabbed 2 baddies AR15s, and charged the line. I ran into the hospital through a side door, crashing into Justin. We decided to work together (shall we work together? Sure!). And we went broke into the barracks together. It was one of those moments, where you know you can die, but, you try really hard not to. There was all the smoke from the bullets. Exploding shells, and the smell of gunpowder. Once we ran out, we saw what we shot, and felt really embarrassed. There were demolished chars, guns, clips, beds, tables, and clothes, but no men were here, talk about overreacting.

"What happened?" we both asked each other at the same time.

"Cassie wasn't in the hospital, but I found Vosch's body," Justin said.

"Do you think she killed him?" I asked.

"Yes," said Justin.

That's when we noticed Ben Parish approaching. "Justin," I said in a warning voice, "look."

As I said it, Ben lunged at me, but Justin stood in front of him and took the hit. They both fell on the ground.

"Ben, why are you doing this?" Justin asked.

"If I kill Evan, Vosch will never find out why Evan went rogue," Ben replied.

"Vosch is dead," said Justin.

"He'll be replaced," Ben replied.

"We're about to destroy the Mothership," Justin yelled back. Pause.

"What?" Ben asked, surprised.

"You heard me," Justin replied.

"Well, holy crap, guys!" Ben said. "I wanna help!"

"Oh," said Justin. "Wait- if I let you go, you're just gonna jump on Evan, right?"

"Trust him," I said. "I can read him. I saw his Wonderland. He doesn't lie."

"You read my Wonderland?" Ben said, shocked.

"I did. Now let him up!"

Justin climbed up, and Ben jumped to his feet.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

"Evan and I are going to find Cassie, who recently escaped and killed Vosch," said Justin. "After we find her, we'll start helping to blow up the Mothership."

"How will you do so?" asked Ben.

"Vosch's device must be triggered," said Evan.

"Oh yeah, that device," Ben replied. "Okay, I'm in."

* * *

 **Cassie FPPOV**

I ran for the woods, at top speed (granted, not that fast, but still top speed), until I saw Justin, Evan, and Ben running towards me. I raised my sidearm and pointed it at Ben's face.

"Don't shoot, Cassie!" Justin said. "He's had a change of heart!"

"Wonderful," I replied. "Where's everyone else?"

"Working to destroy the Mothership," Evan replied.

"Great! How can I help?" I asked.

"Go with Ben, to find Dumbo and Teacup," Evan replied. "The power should be off by now, and I want to check on them."

Just as he said that, the power went off.

"Go anyways," Evan said again. He and Justin ran off towards the central compound.

* * *

 **Dumbo FPPOV**

Teacup and I made a mistake when we came across the first group of Child Soldiers.

We weren't far from the power array when we came across eight Child Soldiers. They didn't stand a chance: young kids who hadn't even graduated training going up against battle-hardened fighters. We shot the legs out from under them, hoping to incapacitate them. We succeeded, but one of the kids managed to turn on an Area Emergency Alarm.

"Teacup!" I yelled. "Run!"

But it was too late: at least ten Silencers burst into the room. I managed to duck in time, but Teacup didn't. She was shot in the stomach.

She screamed in pain as she dropped. I knew what I had to do. I knew there was no saving her, Plus, any gut shot, is such a pain, literally.

"Teacup!" I yelled over her screams and the sounds of shots hitting the top of our protection. "I'm doing this to end your pain. Please forgive me!" My voice broke on 'Please forgive me'. Teacup nodded. She knew what I meant and she accepted it.

I pulled out my rifle and shot her in the head. I burst into tears shortly after.

In order to get the Silencers to leave, I would have to fake my death. I jumped up, and I managed to twist my body into a position where a shot to my side wouldn't kill me instantly. One of the Silencers shot me. I dropped to the ground.

"He's dead," one of them said. They left.

I began to slowly drag myself through the complex, avoiding enemy detection. After much pain and agony, I found the control panel. As I pulled myself up the side to the power switch, I felt a pain in my side worse then any pain I had ever experienced. That's when I realized that I would not survive. I flipped the switch and the lights went out.

I fell to the ground and lay there panting.

After a few minutes, I saw Ben and Cassie walk into the room. Ben dropped next to me, and Cassie followed suit.

"Dumbo," said Ben, "Dumbo... "

"Go, you guys," I said, and every word caused a sharp pain in my chest. "I had to kill Teacup. She was too wounded to live. I am as well. Go. Don't waste your ammunition finishing me off."

"No…" Ben replied.

"Yes," I said. "And if you don't, you'll remember that my last request of you was not granted."

Ben started sobbing. "NO!" he yelled.

"Please…" I replied. Ben closed his eyes, long enough to compose himself, then got up.

"Goodbye, Dumbo, hero, friend," he said.

"See you on the other side," Cassie added.

"See you there," I replied. "But, if you see Elmer, and Edward, tell them, tell them, that I, They, they were like, like, like a bro… the…r."

"We will," Evan said. The two walked out to the room sadly.

I could feel my chest rising and falling with breath. I could feel my heart thump-thump-thumping against my chest.

It wasn't long until that heart stopped.

* * *

 **Elmer FPPOV**

Ringer got down to me, a few minutes after I signaled her.

"Elmer, dang it, this better be good, I had to leave my post, and Evan is not going to be happy!" She let me know.

"Chill, this plan is unstoppable, I made friends with the children," I told her.

"What? How did you accomplish this, they were trained killers."

"Don't worry woman, our friend here is telling the truth, he told us what was really going to happen." Said a boy, not older than 9, with short dark hair, and hazel eyes.

"So, what do we do, how does this help us?" Ringer asked.

"Elmer told us you guys needed help." The same boy said.

"Yep, the plan is, once you go back to your post, this boy and these 5, are going to go tell their friends the plan," I said.

"I can't help, if I don't know the plan!" She told me.

"We don't have much time, just wait for another signal, then use this detonator," I told her.

"What does it explode?"

"It doesn't matter, just do it!" I said.

"Fine, but I would like it better, if your plan was more clear to me." and she went back to her post.

"Ok guys," I said turing to them. "With these walkie talkies, we can communicate.

"What for?" A girl asked.

"What do you mean what for? To talk to one another, I'll be inside, telling my friends, just, just stick to the plan, ok?" I told them.

A few gave a sincere nod, then headed off. They were only kids, and sometimes, kids don't follow a plan exactly. If this worked, it would ensure our victory, and I, would finally be recognized.

 **Mark. (Blood Bag) FPPOV**

My name is Mark, and I'm in charge of one-hundred Child Soldiers. Before this, I was known as Mark, the 7 year old kid who liked Legos and Mega Bloks. When the aliens came, I was sent here, trained as a killer. We were told we were killing them, the others, but Elmer told us that wasn't the case. The people in charge of us were actually the Others, and the men and women we shot down were perfectly human. We were lied to. In camp, everyone had a nickname, mine was Blood Bag. It's not that I like that name, but they just always called me that. I'm not sure if it had any connection with me, but I had kinda gotten used to it.

Elmer told us what we needed to do. It was clear to me, and my friends. We were to tell the other children the truth, and to help them with the attack. Elmer's friend Ringer would trigger the explosion, as a distraction/signal. That told us we were to attack, but not kill people under age of 20. I met with the other kids, hopefully I didn't blow this up.

"All right gang, guess what?" I told all the other kids who had fallen.

"What?" one asked.

"We've been lied too, our soldiers and Vosch are the aliens, not the intruders!" I said.

"What do you mean?" another asked.

"We need to replan, and we have one."

"What is it?" Somebody said.

"We, split up into groups of 20-25. Then, once we have all the other children, we'll help attack with the intruders!"

"And just how do we do that?" A girl in the front asked.

"We just do, I don't know, but we're the dominant force here, a mass of more than one-hundred. With all of us, and the firepower, we can take back this world!" A cheer went out through all of them. My speech must have been very motivational.

"And also," My friend Matt started. "Elmer and his friends, are prepared, to blow up the Mothership, and they will very soon."

"Got it, but, what do we do after?" One asked.

"We'll figure that out later. Just get into teams of 20-25, and wait for the signal, a bunch of gun shots, clear?"

"Ok, let's do this thing!" The girl standing next to me, Annora said.

* * *

 **Caleb**

The inside of the base was the _least_ familiar location in the world to Caleb. The confusing labyrinth of passages bamboozled just about everyone who would go in (especially Caleb) and the high Silencer presence was an issue.

Caleb knew that eventually he would reach the core of the base. He also knew it might take a while.

Caleb ducked to the side as the next group of Child Soldiers in a long line came barreling around the corner. He leaned out and prepared to shoot, before one of them yelled "STOP!"

Caleb, dazed by the exclamation, lowered his gun.

"We know the truth," the oldest one in front said.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Vosch is an Other," he replied. "They're all Others. We're here to help destroy the Mothership."

Caleb narrowed his eyes. _If they're lying and I trust them, we could be stabbed in the back. But then again, they wouldn't know to make that excuse unless they had heard it and believed it…._

"Great," Caleb replied. "You can start by exterminating as many Silencers as possible."

* * *

 **Elmer**

Elmer penetrated the base under heavy cover fire from Ringer. Surrounded by Child Soldiers, they cut across the base causing havoc and destroying as much as possible.

Children branched off in four groups of twenty-five, causing disruption. One-hundred kids backstabbed the Silencers and the remaining three-hundred Child Soldiers in a massive battle. Elmer helped as much as he could, taking out Silencers in singular shots to the head. He made sure not to shoot any Child Soldiers, but did shoot wheels off vehicles that were coming to shut down the assault force.

Blood Bag, the leader of the force, took his twenty-five man group and penetrated into the central compound, the one which would hold the device of destruction to wreak havoc on the Mothership.

Despite Elmer's and the Child Soldier's tremendous effort, however, the battle was swinging in favor of the other side. As the remains of the Silencer Force and the Child Legion got over their surprise, they began to overwhelm the rebels by superior skill and shear numbers. Everywhere, friendly soldiers were dropping under a hail of lead that tore them apart.

 _Now is the time,_ Elmer thought to himself. _Let's hope she recognizes my signal._

Elmer raised his gun and shot into the air several times. And the world exploded around him.

* * *

 **Justin**

The concussive force of the blast cut through the catwalk that he and Evan were walking on, and Justin yelled as he tumbled down. Evan managed to save himself from the fall, but Justin tumbled down onto a pile of food. He was in some sort of pantry.

Justin looked up to see Evan looking down at him. "You okay?" he called.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Justin called back (he had landed on squishy bread). "Keep going, I'll meet you in the center."

"Righto!" Evan yelled back.

Evan turned and kept running down the unbroken half of the catwalk. Justin crawled into a ventilation shaft, rather than stepping out of the pantry into likely death.

Justin crawled through the vent for some time, before he looked out a fixed vent and saw Lena jogging down the hall.

"Lena!" he yelled. Lena looked up and around.

"In the shaft!" Justin yelled again.

Lena looked over to the vent. "Justin!" she said in a surprised voice.

"Evan's coming, we'll see you down the hall!" Justin yelled back.

"Okay…" Lena replied, and she continued jogging. Justin crawled at top speed, following her.

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena knew that there was a problem when she came into the Central Room.

The device was flying out of the room.

Justin was popping out of the vent.

A Silencer was aiming at Justin's unsuspecting back.

 _Oh no!_ Lena thought to herself.

Time seemed to freeze: Lena would have to shoot the device to trigger it, since it was nearly out of this world. However, if she did so, she wouldn't be able to save Justin from the Silencer. Justin wouldn't be able to take the bullet. He would be dead.

 _I could heal him,_ Lena thought to herself. _There's the answer._ And she fired into the device.

The Silencer's bullet hit Justin, and his eyes widened in shock. A blasting noise told Lena that the Mothership was gone.

The Silencer soon fell with a bullet in his skull, and Lena ran toward Justin.

"Hold still, I'll heal you," said Lena.

"Don't!" Justin said urgently. "I can feel it coming!"

Lena soon found out what he meant.

* * *

 **Elmer**

The detonator was a piece of technology from Vosch's private armory, used to destroy the base in the event of an emergency. It was connected to several Eye Bombs placed in strategic locations to prevent the base from becoming a sinkhole, but to destroy almost everything that someone could use.

Ringer's blast took out most of the runway and all the remaining buildings aside from the Central Compound. When the bombs began exploding, Elmer dived under a half-track and grabbed onto the bottom. The blast knocked the half-track across the runway, flipping over until it landed upright (though mostly destroyed) with Elmer still attached to the bottom.

Elmer coughed, trying to clear the dust from his throat, before he jumped up and started running to the Central Compound. He looked at the remains of all the people who died in the blast, before he arrived at the door.

It was locked.

"Elmer!" yelled a voice. Elmer looked over to see Ben and Cassie running towards him.

"Everything's locked down," said Ben. "We checked. The only way to get in is to get the access codes."

"Luckily, I have them," said Cassie.

"Oh?" Elmer replied.

"Yes," said Cassie. "I downloaded all the memories ever entered into Wonderland from said program before that blast happened. I know the access codes."

Cassie walked to the door and typed some stuff into a keypad. The door opened and everyone walked in.

* * *

 **Lena**

Every single bullet wound Justin had ever survived was opening, until Justin's whole body was covered in bloody wounds. That's when Lena knew there was nothing she could do.

Justin's pulse stopped. His last words were _I can feel it coming._

Lena kneeled, apparently emotionless. However, her mind was a rage of sadness. _Too much death, too much death!_ was all her brain could repeat over and over again.

Mike and Caleb joined her soon after. They gathered around Justin in a silent vigil for the fallen warrior, the one who seemed the most likely to survive.

Evan came too. Soon they were followed by Elmer, Cassie, and Ben. They sat for some time, in silence. The battle was over.

"We need to go," said Lena eventually.

001: P"This body will be cremated in the fire I caused," Elmer added. "As will the bodies of Dumbo, Teacup, and all the rebels who fought alongside us."

The vigil stood and walked out unopposed. They saw the fires consuming the central compound as wood burned, stone exploded, and metal melted.

They met with Ringer: they shared the news of the fatalities.

When they arrived at camp in silence, they discovered Sammy, hiding in the bushes next to the body of Edward. Elmer had an emotional breakdown: he truly loved his brother.

 **End of Chapter Fourteen**

 **Part One Epilogue**

A month of rest was agreed on. A monument was constructed to the Four Warriors, as they were named. Losing the Warriors seemed to have sparked something powerful in the hearts of the survivors.

Love grew in the group: Cassie's baby grew a bit bigger, Lena and Mike became even closer, and Ringer (who changed her name to Marika) and Ben fell in love as well. Soon enough, Lena and Marike were thought to be carrying children as well.

The forest was hospitable enough for one month and a few days, but they knew that they would have to move eventually. Lena and Mike made plans to get out of the Matrix, somehow, with their new friends. Ben and Marika made plans to hide in the Central American Rainforest and rebuild human civilization. Evan made plans to return to his old home, and rebuild it from the ashes of the fire he started.

But nothing was final… yet.

Morpheus and the Rescuers lost the trail of the ones they were seeking, before they decided to think. They sat down and camped out in the remains of the Cabin, and started making plans to find their lost sheep.

But still, nothing was final…. yet.

As June turned into July, our two bands of heroes made plans to embark on the next stage of their journey. To where? Undecided. But only one thing was important at the time:

They weren't dead yet.

 **End of Part One**


	15. A Couple Days Spent With A Coward

**Introduction**

" _Since the day we were born, we knew we'd be gone. We didn't know how. We didn't want to. We knew it must happen._

 _We walked across civilization, making the most of our lives before we could die. We loved, we laughed, we cried, we killed. Killing was the worst part. Those we killed sneered upon us as we joined their ranks._

 _There are always Others. Others don't die. Others are always alive._

 _We are the forgotten._

 _We are the forsaken._

 _We are the pitied._

 _We are the rejoiced._

 _We are The Dead."_

 **-The Dead**

* * *

 **Evan Walker**

"Today," Evan said, addressing the group, "we move. We are leaving today, before Silencers catch up with us. We need to get out."

"Sounds good," Sammy replied. "But where to go?"

"Personally, I think we should make a beeline for the Central American rainforests," Marika said. "We could hide in there for years."

"I think we should head for the city," Mike suggested.

"Why would we go their?" Marika said. "The rainforests are way better, no technology to ruin."

"Actually, you're both wrong, because I have an idea," Evan told them.

All eyes were turned on him. "What is it then?" Lena asked.

"It will take some effort, lots of planning, and perseverance, but I suggest we go to Area 51."

"That's even more insane than my idea! We're all the way in Michigan!" Mike yelled.

"Plus, there's not even power there, or anywhere for that matter," Ben told them.

"We don't know that, what if because It's so far underground, and in the middle on nowhere, they found a way to get it back, or, they didn't lose it ever," Cassie stated.

"Thanks babe," Evan told her.

"Alright, enough love stuff, we still need to figure out where to go," Elmer said.

"I say we put it to a vote, all for Evan's plan, and all against, you cannot vote both though," Lena said.

"Good, all in favor in my plan, raise your hand," Evan said.

Evan's, Cassie's, Elmer's, Lena's and Sammy's hands went up.

"All opposed?" Evan said.

Mike, Marika, Caleb, and Ben raised their hands.

"Yes, we win, Area 51 it is!" Elmer stated.

* * *

 **Somewhat Neutral POV**

The first day's walk was rather easy… except for sunset, when Mike noticed that the group was out of water.

"Well… _that's_ unfortunate," Evan remarked upon seeing Mike's discovery.

"Well, what do we do?" asked Sammy.

"I think I see a house up there," Lena replied. "Ya know, on the hill, in the woods. Any sane person would probably have stockpiled water there or something."

"I guess that's relatively smart," Mike replied. "Evan and I can go up, get water from the house, and come back. Whatever you do, don't come to save us if we're gone for a while, but please wait for us."

"Why?" Lena asked.

"Because we don't want to be rescued or abandoned for no reason!" Evan replied. "Now, we're going!"

Ben and Mike walked down a long dirt path, to where a log had fallen across a path. Both of them hopped over the log easily and walked up the path. The sky started to slowly darken as they slowly approached the brick fence around the house.

It was the most intact building that they had ever seen, since the Arrival of the Others. It was also totally night out when Evan led the way into the house.

There was a staircase going straight up a landing, with another door off to both sides and another door down the hall. "With any luck, we should find water here."

"Evan, look!" Mike said in a slightly disturbed voice.

Evan looked to see a spooky black drawing of trees, with a tall man standing in front of them. "Holy crap…" Evan replied, trailing off on the 'crap'.

Evan and Mike walked along into the living room, which was moderately cluttered. There was a chessboard lying on the table, with clutter. No one was surprised about that.

"This place is desolate," Evan added.

"Spooky…" Mike replied. They walked into the kitchen.

It was dark, highly reminiscent of the rest of the house. The room was also contrasted by bright white wallpaper and brown appliances. The table had three odd instruments on it- wait… that's a flashlight!

"Mike, a flashlight!" Evan said loudly. Mike came over quickly.

"Won't work," Mike replied. Evan, however, clicked the switch and it turned on.

"WHA!" said Mike. "We should bring this thing back to the gang, use batteries for the Changer! How the crap did they get it to work…?"

"I don't think it runs on battery…" Evan replied cryptically. He pried open the battery lid, to reveal no batteries at all. The smile disappeared off Mike's face.

"Oh my…" Mike said. "How!?"

"Spooky again, and what are these things?" Evan added.

Mike picked up one of the visor-looking things. "Camera, powered the same way as the flashlight (as in, no batteries)." He put it on.

"Why do we want these?" Evan asked.

"Well," Mike replied, "I guess… we can record some crap!"

"Fine," Evan replied, and put on his own.

"Let's go look around for some more water," Mike said again.

Mike and Evan headed to search a bathroom: the only water there was toilet water. Mike and Evan decided to leave that alone. They left and proceeded through the house, without finding anything (except a random key). Finally, they arrived at a locked door.

"Hmm," said Evan, "let's see if the key does anything." Evan then proceeded to put the key into the lock: he twisted and the door opened. The room was rather sketchy: a room full of pictures of dark, tall figures drawn in sharpie.

"Um, Evan, what do you make of this?" asked Mike.

"Well, they're just a bunch of random drawings of people," Evan replied.

"Well duh! I know that, I'm not stupid!" Mike protested.

"Well, I know that. That's just what they are."

"They might be the people that used to live here!" Mike said happily.

"I don't think so," Evan said. "The unnatural elongation of the figures, the blankness of the face, the scrawniness levels are off the chart."

"Maybe they AREN'T people," Mike replied.\

Evan walked over and started examining the wall: the words 'Can you see it?' were written in read.

Suddenly, a scream that sounded vaguely like a pig's squeal echoed from behind the house. Mike jumped in fear.

"Was that a boy, or a girl?" asked Mike.

"Why is that the first question you ask when you hear a scream?" Evan asked. "I'd typically ask if someone was being murdered painfully, or something!"

"It didn't sound very manly…" Mike said mystically.

"Have you heard your own scream?" Evan asked incredulously. Mike blushed and scowled.

"Come on, let's go check it out!" Evan said. He started heading for the door before Mike caught his arm.

"Why are you going to find the source of the scream?" Mike asked. "We should just leave!"

"I have a moral obligation to myself to prove myself human!" Evan replied.

"Well that's dumb!" Mike said in a clearly affronted voice.

"I'm going!" Evan replied.

"No you're not!" Mike said, jumping in front of Evan to block his path.

"What're you gonna do, snore at me?" Evan asked teasingly. Then, Evan turned and jumped out the window.

"[censored] you, Evan! Moral obligation!" Mike yelled, then he also jumped out the window.

The two of them landed in the grass, in the dark, next to a swingset. Evan was already up, and Mike was lying on the grass with the air knocked out of him.

" _G-o-o-o-d!"_ croaked Mike.  
"Are you good?" asked Evan.

" _E-v-v-a-a-a-a-n!"_

Evan sighed and started walking away.  
" _D-o-o-o-n-'-t l-e-e-a-a-v-e m-e-e!"_ At this, Evan stopped.

"Get up, you troll!" he said. "We need to save the day!"

"Fine!" Mike replied. He got up and started following Evan around the dark house.

The two of them crept toward a sinister-looking wooden gate that was standing ajar in the dark, and which looked quite imposing. Evan strode to the gate, shouldered his rifle, and told Mike to open it. Mike walked over and pulled it open himself so quickly that it hit Evan in the face. This caused Evan to fall and shoot his gun into the air, which in turn scared Mike so bad that he jumped into the air and hit his head on the overhang on the brick wall. Mike also fell to the ground, yelling and cursing in pain.

"Mike, you idiot!" Evan yelled angrily, jumping to his feet and throwing open the gate (which had shut by itself). The gate hit Mike in the back, causing him to yell even more. Evan strode outside, to see a dark path through the forest.

On a tree was a missing child poster, featuring a happy-looking kid named Charlie Matheson Jr. Evan stored the name in his brain for later and started walking along, rifle out.  
He soon noticed Mike running up behind him, holding his head and back and panting heavily.

"Quiet!" Evan whispered forcefully. "Get out your gun!"

Mike pulled out his M16 and started performing similar motions to Evan. They continued to walk along the dark path, shining the flashlight and panning with their guns along the trail.

Then, Mike saw it. The tall, gangly silhouette on the hilltop, staring down.

"Evan, look!" Mike whispered. Evan turned his head and his gun on the figure.

"Shoot it!" said Mike.

Evan pulled the trigger: but instead of the boom that was expected, there was just a click.

"Quick, reload!" Mike said urgently. Evan grabbed his rucksack and opened it, removing a clip. But instead of putting it in the receiver, Evan just stared at it, shocked.

"It's empty," Evan said in a mystified voice.

"What?" Mike asked.

"THE CLIP IS EMPTY, GOD[censored]IT!" Evan replied angrily.

"Oh," Mike replied. "I shall try."

Mike raised his M16, but it didn't fire. Once again, he discovered his clip to be empty.

"I shall punch the scrawny dude!" Mike said bravely. He turned and started sprinting up the hill: suddenly, Evan's camera glitched and the scrawny guy disappeared.

"Coward!" he heard Mike yell distantly. Mike turned around and ran back.

"Did you see that?" Mike asked. "He- he just went _poof!_ "

"Yes, I know," said Evan. "It doesn't make sense…"

Mike and Evan continued walking, occasionally pointing out rising swarms of birds, or the scrawny guy standing and staring.

"He's so rude…." Mike remarked upon their third sighting of him. "He just stands there…"

"I also think he took our ammunition," Evan remarked.

"Uh, how?" Mike asked. "I followed you in here with ten thirty-round clips completely filled up, and that thing didn't get anywhere near me!"

"Ghosts aren't real… I think…" Evan said thoughtfully.

"Right…." Mike replied. "Oh, look at that!"

They had reached the end of the path and were now standing at two little construction areas. Behind them was a burnt-up barn, and off to the side, a brick building.

"Go in the barn?" asked Evan. "Or go to the brick place?"

"Barn," Mike replied. "Probably water."  
The two of them walked towards the barn and entered. The place was trashed, with broken wood and fallen beams everywhere. And there was crying.

"Who's crying?" Mike asked. "Is it the unmanly screaming man?"

"It wasn't an unmanly screaming man," Evan said absentmindedly.

Mike walked forward, flashlight in hand, until he found the source of the crying.

"Uh… what?" Mike asked himself. "A freakin'... a freakin' zombie!"

He was absolutely right. There was a crying young zombie. Well, not a zombie. But the kid's flesh was rotten. And he was wearing only a loincloth. And his hair was long and stringy. And Mike was rather disturbed.

"Evan, RUUUN!" Mike said, and he started running out of the barn. He soon burst out, to see Evan standing there waiting.

"What happened?" Evan asked.

"Zombie kid with stringy hair," Mike replied, out of breath.

"Hold on…" Evan said, then shone the flashlight in. "Oh, that's hideous!" Evan said after a couple minutes.

"Can we go somewhere else?" Mike asked.

"Let's go to the brick building," Evan replied, and the two of them turned and jogged towards the brick building.

The interior of the brick building was the most depressing room of all time. Not with much darkness (thought there was plenty of that). It was covered in the same pages that were in the unusual bedroom. The words 'Get CR, he knows how to end it' were drawn on the wall in red paint.

"Well, who's CR?" asked Evan. "What does he know how to end?"

"I dunno… what's this?" asked Mike. He picked up a piece of paper.

"Find the pages. Only way to find CR," read Mike.

"Whaddya figure?" Evan asked.

"We should leave," Mike replied. "We can get water from that river."

"No!" Evan replied. "Moral obligation!"

"Stop with your stupid moral obligation!" Mike replied. "Unmanly Screaming Man is probably already dead!"

"We're gonna find these page things!" Evan replied. "Plus, Scrawny Coward might follow us if we leave!"

"Hmmm," said Mike. "You have a point… I suppose we can look for the pages…."

Evan led the way, searching the brick building, until they both found it.

"Is this a page?" Mike asked, as they stood looking at the thing.

"I guess we'll find out," Evan replied. He reached out and pulled the page off the wall.

Immediately, both Mike and Evan felt a strange sensation reverberate through their bodies. The sensation slowly subsided, and after it was gone, the both of them heard a consistent drumbeat start playing.

"Um, ya, I think that was a page," Mike said.

"I think we upset someone," Evan replied.

"How many do we need?" Mike asked.

"No idea, we need to keep hunting," Evan said, and they both walked out of the brick building.

A park map was up ahead, and Mike immediately ran over and grabbed a page off the map. Once again, the sensation washed over him, but there was no additional drumbeat.

Mike and Evan started moving through the woods, flashlight out, until Mike's camera started to glitch and fiz.

"Should we turn around?" Mike asked.

"Yes! Look!" Evan replied, pointing.

Mike turned as the camera started making unusual noises, to see the Scrawny Coward. Except he was no longer a silhouette. He was wearing a suit, with a red tie, and he had no face: his skin was simply white. Mike yelled.

"Run for it!" Evan added, and they both turned and started sprinting. They kept running, even when their cameras stopped glitching and breaking, even when nothing was actually wrong. They only stopped when Mike tripped on a root, then fell and tripped up Evan.

"Oi!" Evan panted, lying on top of Mike.

"Get off!" Mike replied angrily.

"Right," Evan said, then stood up. Mike got up after him.

"Who the [censored] was that?" Mike asked.

"I dunno, but I think he's triggered," Evan replied.

"'Triggered' is an understatement. We need to find these pages, and fast!"

The Dynamic Duo walked in a different direction, this time stumbling across an empty tent. Evan grabbed the page of the side, ignoring the sensation. Both of them immediately tore off, to avoid being smashed by the Scrawny Reverse-Coward.

Finally they stumbled across another page, nailed to a portable bathroom. Mike ripped it off, but immediately, static flashed over both screens, and a terrible scraping noise came from both cameras.

"Get out!" Evan yelled.

"Righto!" The friends sprinted, but their camera issues didn't let up. "Keep running!"

"Righto!"

They continued to sprint relentlessly, but soon Mike felt something grasp his ankle.

"[censored]!" he yelled. Evan turned to see a black tentacle attached to Mike's leg. The other end of the tentacle seemed to be attached to Scrawny Reverse-Coward's back, from which many more tentacles were issuing. Said tentacles were creeping through midair toward them.

"Well," said Mike from the ground, "that's unfortunate…"

Evan grabbed Mike and started pulling with all his Silencer strength. Unfortunately, it seemed the tentacled was much stronger. So Evan took a different approach. He raised his arm, and chopped through the tentacle. He grabbed Mike and hoisted him to his feet, and they started sprinting away.

"Oi, oi," Mike replied. "That was… that was…"

"Traumatizing?" Evan asked.

"Yes…." Mike replied.

"Oh, look, a page," Evan said. He walked over to the slightly fallen tree and ripped off a page.

"Great, we've found like four or five?" Mike said.

"Five, yes," Evan replied. Mike and Evan got up again, and began hunting.

Over the next bit of time, Mike and Evan managed to find two more pages on a water tower and in a storage yard. Finally, they stumbled across the eighth page, which was attached to a watch tower.

"Here we go, grab this one!" Mike said. Evan grabbed it.

Suddenly, He was on top of them. The screens all went static and the terrible noise happened again. Screaming was all either of them heard, each other's screams, and they ran. They found themselves teleported to strange locations, falling over one another, then really falling, falling, falling…

* * *

 **Once Again, Shifty POV**

Everything ached. Mike couldn't see anything: his eyes were still closed. He didn't want to open them.

It didn't feel like night anymore. Evan could feel sun on his back, and coarse grass under his body. He didn't hear the sound of static from his camera anymore. He did hear the sound of birds, though.

Mike opened his eyes. He was lying on the side in tall, golden grass. The sun was in the sky, but not very high. Probably about ten o'clock.

It was painful sitting up. Evan pushed himself to his feet, even though he was aching all over.

"What… happened?" Mike asked. He was standing up too.

"Well….." Evan replied thoughtfully.

"Do you think the others have come hunting for us, yet?" Mike asked.

"Oh, the Others are always hunting," Evan replied.

"No, I mean the friends."

"I know," Evan responded. "I was using my limited sense of humor."

"Maybe Scrawny Reverse-Coward is an Other," Mike said.

"He doesn't look anything like our friends!" Evan replied. "Although, seriously, he could be…"

"How 'bout we focus on getting out of here?" Mike said.

"Sure, good idea," Evan replied. The two of them set out across the grass.

"So," said Evan after a couple minutes of walking, "what about saving Unmanly Screaming Man? Finding CR?"

"What do we care about CR?" Mike said wearily. "We just need to leave before we get ourselves killed. Because that would be sad."

"You're probably right," admitted Evan. "How 'bout this? We look for a way out of here, but if we find a lead to find CR, we'll follow it."

"Okay," Mike replied.

The two of them started looking around the grassy clearing, to discover that they were in a sort of canyon, surrounded by steep rock walls.

"We could probably climb out," Mike said. "I'm strong, you're strong…"

"Mike, there's only so much we can do without climbing gear," Evan said. "The rock is completely smooth, and neither of us can punch footholds into solid rock."

So Mike and Evan instead started looking through houses.

"Nothing, no rope ladders, no anything," Mike said frustratedly.

"I know," Evan replied dejectedly.

They left the room and moved through a sort of bottleneck. Both Mike and Evan looked up in awe.

"Alright, _now_ we're getting somewhere," Mike said. For they were looking upon a massive mineshaft in the middle of the cliff. There was no door, but a long tall hallway leading into the shaft.

"Oh yeah, we're going places," Evan replied. They both walked quickly through the shaft. Mike flicked the flashlight on halfway down the hall.

Then, the door shut behind them. Evan and Mike turned around and looked.

"Aw, crap," Mike said.

"Well, that's rather sketchy…" Evan said.

"What do we do?"

"We escape!" Evan said.

They continued, until Evan spotted a notice. "Six generators to power the elevators."

"Elevators? Excellent!" Mike said. "Just turn on six generators and we can leave this place."

"Oh, look, one up ahead," Evan said in a bored voice. He walked toward it and turned it on.

"Great, five more to go," Mike said happily as the sounds of the generator powering up rushed through the place.

"Okay, let's go hunting," Evan decided.

The two friends looked around some more, and soon found a second generator in a room off a hall. However, this time, they heard a messed-up noise.

"What's that?" Evan said, when he heard the odd moaning sounds.

"I dunno, but I don't like it," said Mike, and the two ran out of the room.

They soon found a catwalk. "High ground, we can spot the generators from above," Evan said happily. They ran up the catwalk, and found another generator.

"I wonder if You-Know-Who is in the mine with us," Mike said curiously.

"More than likely," Evan said, before something crashed into him and knocked him to the ground.

"What the-" Mike said, while Evan yelled. He swung the flashlight around wildly, until the beam flashed over someone in a white hoodie running in the opposite direction.

"Ouch," Evan said. "What was that?"

"I really don't know," Mike replied warily, swinging the flashlight around. "We really should get out of here."

"We need more freakin' generators," Evan said angrily.

They continued to walk, jumping down from the catwalk and jogging down a hallway. Always, though, pattering footsteps followed them.

"Another generator!" Mike said excitedly.

"Toss me the light," Evan said. "Turn it on."

Mike rushed up to the generator, and switched it on. Meanwhile, Evan heard something running toward them, and focused the flashlight in its direction. He saw the White-Hoodie Person freeze up and cover its face against the light.

"Mike! I found out how to defend against White-Hoodie Person!" Evan yelled.

"Great!" Mike yelled, running back up. "Not so scary, are you, beastie? Can't catch us now, can you?"

Suddenly, the cameras went static again. Mike and Evan yelled and started running… right at White-Hoodie Person (really, that's a pain to type, can I type a shorter name? How 'bout Spooky?).

Spooky remained blinded, but when Evan and Mike rounded the corner, it resumed its chase. It moaned and groaned, as the two friends exhausted themselves running.

"Evan, blind the [censored]!" Mike yelled.

"Right!" Evan replied, turning around and focusing the flashlight. Spooky froze, once again, covering his eyes.

"What's the plan?" asked Mike.

"When I say go, we split for the hall maze," Evan said. "We turn as many corners as possible, and dodge Spooky."

"Righto!"

"Three...two...one… go!"

They dashed, and once again heard the sounds of the pitter-patter behind them. They sprinted continuously, turning frequently, and eventually the footsteps disappeared.

"We got away!" Mike panted.

"Yes, and there's another generator!" Evan said. He switched it on.

"Only one more!" Mike said happily.

"But where?"

The final generator was spotted at the end of a long hallway… a hallway with no other doors in front of it.

"Great!" Mike said sarcastically. "Great! Now, when we go in there, we'll be cornered."

"We don't both have to go in," said Evan. "Here's the plan: you take the flashlight and go in there. I stay out here, and when Spooky comes, I lure it away. Then, you take the flashlight, run to the lift, and wait for me there."

"Knowing our luck, that'll either go perfectly or extremely terribly," Mike said. "I'll do it."

Mike went down the hall: Evan waited outside. Soon enough, Spooky came by and started charging Evan.

"Come at me, bro!" Evan shouted. He started to run, but then heard Spooky yelling in pain behind him.

It seemed that Spooky had decided to go after _Mike_ instead. Mike had blinded it, and it was standing at the entrance to the hall.

"Uh, a little help, Evan," Mike said.

"I'm gonna tackle it," Evan said.

"Great! I'll run over it," Mike replied. Evan charged at the beast and tackled it to the ground. What ensued was the most intense wrestling match ever seen. Mike jumped over them and ran for the elevator.

Meanwhile, Evan had managed to throw of Spooky and was running flat out behind Mike. They continued to run, jumping onto the lift. Mike blinded Spooky as he tried to jump on the elevator, and the lift went up. After about three minutes, they reached the top.

"Look at that!" Evan said. There was a message drawn on the wall saying GET TO THE TOWER. "Looks like we know where to go."

"Come on, run!" Mike said urgently. They started running quickly through the upper floors of the mine, bursting out into the sunlight.

"Oh, wow," said Mike. "We were in there for a _long_ time."

"Yeah we were," Evan replied. It was about eight at night by the position of the sun. They were standing on the side of the mountain, looking up to a sheer cliff and down to a sheer cliff. The place had a few trees, and was covered in green grass. The red blinking light of the radio tower could be seen not too far off.

"Well, we know where to go," Mike pointed out. "Let's head for the tower."

They set off jogging uphill, and soon were panting in no time. They turned a couple times on the switchbacks without stopping, until they finally got tired.

"Let's… let's… take… break…" Mike suggested.

"Yes… good… idea…" Evan agreed. They stood there, hands on their knees, panting away.

"Oh… look… teddy!" Mike pointed out. Evan turned to look.  
"Freakin'... teddy… bear!" Evan replied. They both walked forward and touched it at the same time.

Immediately, both of them felt a sensation of being tugged backwards extremely fast- no, the world was spinning and they were standing still. And suddenly they shot forward, like they were blasted from a slingshot until they landed in someone's eyes.

The eyes were lower to the ground, meaning they were the eyes of a small child. The child was standing on the beach.

"Charlie! Lunch inside!" a woman's voice called. But young Charlie didn't go back home. He set out, following a trail of toys across the forest floor.

"Charlie!" the woman called again, and with her a different man. They sounded friendly and playful. Charlie crossed the rocks into the forest, which was foggy.

Immediately, all was quiet. All was scary. The calling parents sounded more disturbed and worried. The child began to cry.

That's when he saw the black tentacles resting on the rocks. He turned: more tentacles were creeping toward him. Now the ones behind him were coming. He started to run. It was too late. The tentacles grasped him, and he started to scream.

"Charlie!" "Charlie!"

Then Evan and Mike found themselves launched backwards, falling flat on their backs in the forest.

"I don't think Charlie was supposed to go in the forest," Evan said thoughtfully after a moment.

Mike got up. "That was important. Let's keep going."

They started jogging again, but the hill flattened out. They were nearly at the top, and with the top, the tower.

The land unexpectedly sloped down and plunged into a small cave.

"Do we go in?" Evan asked.

"Do you want to try and climb over those rocks?" Mike asked in response.

"Okay, we'll go in," he replied.

They went in, and immediately saw that it popped out moments later. There were also two movie tapes lying on a table.

"Take the tapes, we'll watch them later," Evan said. Mike grabbed them and put them in his rucksack. The friends then climbed out of the tunnel to… fire?

"Fire?" asked Mike. "Big, burning forest fire?"

"It looks like someone doesn't want us to reach the tower," Evan replied insightfully. They started sprinting through the burning woods.

Soon, their cameras started to go static as they dashed. "Nothing to worry about!" Evan called. "We can outrun him!"

"Right!" Mike replied. They ran, and soon they got out of the woods.

"That was easy," Evan said. They had reached the foot of the tower. Mike opened it, and they walked into a dark room. There was a metal tank/box/thing, large enough for someone to be in it.

"Let's go in this," Mike said.

They opened the metal tank and walked in. There was a burnt up corpse in the long metal tank, with a radio/thingo next to it.

"Is this CR?" asked Evan.

"Uh, could be. Let's listen."

So they played the radio, and what ensued was a ridiculous conversation, about it being too late, someone was sorry, then a really loud screech of pain.

"Well, that sucks for someone," Mike said inconsiderately.

BANG BANG BANG! Someone was pounding on the tank. BANG BANG BANG! Then, something burst in, and everyone yelled, and everything went black.

* * *

They woke up in what Mike identified to be the burned-down barn.

"Evan!" Mike said urgently. "WE-NEED-TO-LEAVE!"

"I hate to say it," Evan replied. "But we do."

So they walked out of the barn into the night.

* * *

 **Marika**

"Look! They're coming back!" Marika cried.

Everyone had been sitting around the campfire, waiting for Evan and Mike to get back. They had left at sunset, but it had been almost twenty-six hours since they first left. Ben and Caleb had gone out to find them, but came back empty handed. Every few hours, a few members of the group went out to find them, to no avail.

Now, they were roasting some of Mike's hotdogs (they were in his backpack), hopelessly praying that their good friends would get back soon. That was when Marika spotted Evan and Mike walking down the hill, each carrying a big container full of water.

Everyone jumped up running to see what was happening.

"Evan Walker, you come here right now!" Cassie said, with the voice of an angry mother. Evan dropped his water crate and walked over.

"YOU HAVE BEEN GONE SO LONG, AND WE'VE ALL BEEN SO WORRIED!" Cassie screamed. "FOR ALL WE KNOW, YOU COULD'VE BEEN SILENCED A THOUSAND TIMES OVER! YOU-"

"Cassie, keep your voice down!" Evan said quietly. "You might attract attention."

But Cassie wasn't done yet. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST RUN OUT AND GET LOST, AND HAVE US ALL WORRIED TO DEATH! YOU DIDN'T EVEN STOP TO CONSIDER HOW THE REST OF US WOULD FEEL!"

And with that, Cassie punched Evan in the stomach. Evan grimaced in pain, as Cassie wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

Everyone else watched the aforementioned events as they took place. Mike and Lena had just hugged and said hello nicely, because they are nice people.

"Never do that again!" Cassie commanded quietly.

"Yes ma'am," Evan replied.

* * *

Everyone gathered around the fire: Marika had started boiling the two crates of water, which were apparently from the creek. Everyone else had finished their hot dogs, and they were ready to hear Evan and Mike's story.

"So, what happened out there?" Lena asked.

"Did you have a run in with a Silencer?" asked Elmer.

"No," Sammy interrupted. "I think they got hunted by a sppooookkyy gghhoosstt!"

"Don't be silly," Cassie replied. "They probably just ran into a Silencer and got lost."

"Actually, Sammy's right," Mike said grimly.

"What?" Lena said in a shocked voice.

"We didn't know there was a creek up there," Evan began, "so we headed up to an old house to find water. By then, it was already dark. And that's when we heard it."

"Heard _it_? Heard _what_?" Caleb asked.

"The scream," Evan replied darkly. "We had found a functioning GoPro and flashlight, and we were in the second bedroom. It was covered in these pages, these scribbled pictures of… things. There were words: 'Can you see it?' And then we heard the scream."

"I couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl," Mike interjected. "And Evan didn't seem to care. He only thought that we should find out what it was and help whoever originated it."

"You WHAT?" Cassie yelled. "What if it was a Silencer? You might be dead!"

"Geeze, what it is with you and Silencers?" Mike asked.

"One of them killed my dad!" Cassie replied angrily.

There was silence for a moment.

"We went behind the house, because we thought that's where the noise came from," Evan continued. "There was a situation at the gate, which we need not talk about. But we found a path leading behind the house, and we set off down it. Then we saw Him."

"Quit playing the pronoun game, CinemaSins would be ripping you apart of this were a movie!" Elmer interrupted. "Why don't you just say what it is. 'Then we heard IT', 'Then we saw HIM', you could make this discussion so much easier."

"Hey, I'm the one telling the story, stop trying to be a bad YouTuber who makes money off of making fun of perfectly good movies!" Mike replied angrily.

"Moving along," Evan continued. "We saw this really thin, really tall guy standing on the hilltop. We tried to shoot it, but our ammo had vanished. So Mike went to attack it-"

"WHY would you do that?" Lena asked.

"Because it was bugging me, standing on top of the hill, pretending it was super cool or whatever," Mike replied.

"MOVING ON!" Evan shouted (he was starting to get annoyed). "Mike tried to attack the guy, but he just vanished. That GoPro we had started bugging out. It was gnarly."

"And then what?" Sammy asked eagerly.

"We kept walking," Evan continued. "And this guy was harassing us from the hilltops. Mike was getting mad."

"Oh, you better believe I was," Mike interrupted. "Huffing and puffing, steam coming out of my ears-"

"AND EVENTUALLY, WE FOUND THIS ROTTEN BARN!" Evan yelled (he was entering a Cassie-like rage). "And in this rotten barn, we found a rotten kid."

"Like a corpse?" Caleb asked.

"Depends on your point of view," Evan reasoned. "Because it certainly looked long-dead, but it had locomotive capabilities, and it could scream."

"It could scream?" Elmer asked. "Well then, that must have been the scream you heard."

"No, the scream we heard kind of sounded like a pig's squeal," Mike replied. "This scream sounded more like taking Evan's combat knife to a chalkboard five-feet thick, while rubbing two giant stones together, then making it bass boosted."

"I need to try that, hold on," Ben said. He opened his mouth, and released a terrifyingly horrible scream that sounded pretty similar to the one Mike had described.

"That sounds pretty accurate," Evan commended him. "But this rotten kid attacked us while he screamed."

"Want me to do that, as well?" Ben asked. "I've taken you on before, Walker, and that's when I _wasn't_ used to my powers."

"No thank you, and can we please tell our story?" Evan asked wearily.

"Sure, continue on," Marika decided.

"It attacked, then it vanished," Evan said. "It was gone, and Mike and I were confused. Then, we headed over to this weird structure, and went in."

"By now, it was nearly dawn," Mike said, "and we found this weird book. We picked it up, it said that we needed to find pages, to find CR. And apparently, CR was the only person who could 'End it'. End what?"

"So we decided that we would find the pages," Evan said, "because we like saving people. So we found one, and got it. We felt this weird sensation wash over our bodies. It was weird."

"Then, we heard this sound," Mike continued. "It was like a drumbeat: it echoed and reverberated everywhere."

"I think I heard that, too!" Lena exclaimed. "Everyone had gone to bed except me, and I heard a drumbeat. It was consistent, Boom. Boom. Boom."

"Exactly!" Evan replied. "I couldn't help but think that we'd upset someone."

"So we continued to look for these pages," Mike said, "but Evan was right. We had upset someone."

"It was the Scrawny Reverse-Coward," Evan said.

"The _what_?" Elmer asked.

"Shut up, we gave him a name instead of a pronoun," Evan replied bitingly. "He was tall and thin, and wore a suit. His skin was completely white, like, whiter than Marika's which is a big achievement."

"Hey!" Marika said angrily.

"But that's not the weirdest part," Mike said. "He had no face. His head was completely blank."

"Oh my God," Sammy said. "It _was_ a ghost!"

"Yes, I thought we'd implied that by now," Evan replied. "It also had tentacles, which tried to grab us."

"That's not as disturbing as the facelessness," Cassie replied.

"Well, it didn't get us… I think," Mike replied.

"You think?" Elmer asked.

"After we found the last page, it sorta chased us off the edge of a rock wall, and we fell, and landed unconscious," Evan said.

"That was really badly phrased," Lena remarked.

"I don't care," Evan said. "The point is, we were unconscious until, like, ten the next morning. We woke up, and we decided to immediately find our way out of the woods as fast as we could."

"Technically, we weren't in the woods anymore," Mike interjected. "We were in a field, surrounded by giant rocks. And we got up and headed to a big mine."

"Okay, a big mine, sure, not like any of us were expecting a big mine to just jump down our throats randomly," Caleb said.

"Yes, a big mine," Evan continued. "And we figured out that we needed to get power to an elevator to get out of the mine. So we said to ourselves, ' _We should just activate six generators, then the elevator will work'_. And so we set out to do just that."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sammy interrupted. "How is there power for those generators to even work?"

"Well, how do you explain the GoPro and flashlight?" Evan asked. "The point is, weird [censored] went down on that hill."

"Alright, so what happened at the mine?"

"Well," Mike began, "that Scrawny Reverse-Coward was down there, and so was his friend. Just a weird person in a hoodie who chased us around, nothing to be concerned about."

"Sure, nothing to be concerned about," Cassie said sarcastically.

"So, we got the generators running, and we got out of the mine on the elevator," Evan continued, "and we found a weird freakin' teddy bear. So we touched it, and we got to watch a flashback from the eyes of a little kid."

Nobody was surprised at that point.

"This kid was named Charlie," Mike said, "and we think he saw something that he shouldn't have. For sure. Because when he was supposed to go in for lunch, he decided to follow a trail of toys into the woods. Then, the drumbeat began, and he got got."

"He got got," Evan confirmed. "He got tentacled up, to the point where he couldn't see anything. His screams were horrendous."

"Ooowaaah, that's disturbing," Cassie said with a writhe.

"Yes, but we carried on, into a small cave, and discovered some random VCR tapes," Mike said. "Look!"

And out of his bag he pulled two VCR tapes.

"We'll watch them eventually," Evan continued. "They probably contain crucial information."

"So, we went outside and we found a large fire," Mike said, "and the Scrawny Reverse-Coward was in the burning woods. We ran past him easily, like, really easily, and then we reached a big radio tower."

"At the bottom of it was a big metal tank," Evan said, "and we went in, where we found a burnt-up corpse with a tape next to it."

"A corpse," Cassie said.

"Yes, a corpse! We've seen them before!" Mike snapped. "And the tape was basically someone screaming as they were burnt alive."

"And then we got ambushed," Evan said. "Something burst into the metal tank and knocked us both out. We woke up in the abandoned barn that the rotten kid was in. Then we went over to the creek, filled up our water tanks, and came back here."

"That's it?" Sammy asked. "That's the epic story with twists and cliffhangers that you guys told?"

"I don't believe it," Cassie said. "I really don't. Ghosts aren't real."

"I think it sounds like a Matrix Bug," Lena said.

"What's a Matrix Bug?" Ben asked.

"I'll tell you later, it's not important right now," Lena replied. "What is important is that we get out of here."

"Why?" Elmer asked.

"Because Scrawny Reverse-Coward doesn't seem like the the kind of person who would give up easily. Plus, I hear the drumbeat."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then they heard the sound of a consistent BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

"Uh, that's not good," Mike said.

"Everyone, pack up! Let's go!" Evan yelled.

Everyone started flying around willy-nilly, putting away tents, packing packs wildly. Evan and Mike ran around wildly with their arms in the air. Lena was calmly packing her bag. Sammy was eating a cereal bar.

Eventually, everyone was packed.

"Alright, follow me!" Evan yelled. "And do so quickly!"

And so, everyone ran off into the night, following Evan as quickly as they could. Their destination was on the horizon, and escape was likely, seeing as the Slender Man was only doing that to get them out of his forest.

 **End of Chapter 16**


	16. Lightning Men and Non-aggression Pacts

The party was traveling along the dusty road they knew all too well, and they came across a ghostly version of Chicago, a town ravaged by plague, and the silent assasins all had become too constantly aware of.

"Well, Evan," Mike said, "I guess we've come across yet another dessicated husk of a city. We've seen it all before: empty buildings, aside from the corpses. We move into a hotel room, make the beds, and then Ben tries to make the toilets work."

"It never works, does it Ben?" asked Elmer.

"It does too!" Ben protested. "I just stick a plunger in there and it works fine!"

"HUNGRY!" yelled Sammy for the hundredth time in the last hour.

"Okay!" Ben replied meekly.

"There is a giant supermarket when you get into the city, so we will stop there!" Marika reasoned. Everyone rubbed their stomachs contentedly.

"If it's just a supermarket, won't it just have candy bars and random crap that will be spoiled?" Caleb asked.

"The thing is, I'm not so sure," Lena replied. "After the whole thing with the Scrawny Reverse-Coward-"

"Which still might be chasing us!" Mike interrupted.

"I think a bug in the Matrix could cause just about anything," Lena continued. "For all we know, we might find frozen ice cream!"

"Mmm, ice cream," Mike said happily.

After another hour of walking, they had arrived. Sammy burst through the front doors, eyes glowing. The rest of the group chuckled, and slowly walked in behind him. The store was pretty much blasted: dead rats, and a dead guy. For the most part, everyone was more surprised by the dead rats than by the cadaver.

"Alright, shoppers, you have five minutes!" Evan yelled. "Get as much edible food as you can, and eat it up!"

Everyone spread out across the store: Cassie, Evan, and Sammy went for the granola bars, Lena, Ben, and Marika headed for the Ramen, Caleb and Elmer ran for the freeze-dried food, and Mike headed straight for the ice cream.

SPLZZZZZZZZCCCRRAKKK! Sammy started shrieking.

The group ran over just as Sammy dived under a shelf.

"What the [censored] is going on here?" Elmer asked.

"GAAAAHHHHH LIGHTNING BOY WITH WEIRD SCARS BLAST MY FACE OFF HELP PLEASE SILENCER OH GOD REEEEEEEE [CENSORED] [CENSORED}!"

They all raised their weapons, Marika her M16, Ben his M16, Sammy his beretta, Elmer his Revolvers, Mike his M60, Lena her M4, Evan his sniper, and as one, they formed a circle and sweeped the store.

"Up!" Ben yelled, seeing a mysterious shadow flitting across the skylight.

"No, left!" Caleb suggested, seeing another shadow crossing in front of the window on the left side of the store.

"Left?" Cassie asked, shifting her aim.

"No, right!" Elmer exclaimed, pointing to the other window.

"Left or right?" Cassie asked.

"Is that a political question?" Evan replied.

"What are the politics of the apocalypse?" Mike asked curiously.

"Democrat or Republican?" Cassie suggested.

"Are you a Democrat or a Republican?" Sammy asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Evan asked.

"I'm curious," Sammy replied mischievously.

"What are _your_ political beliefs, Sammy?" asked Lena curiously.

"I'm a born-and-raised neo-Nazi!" Sammy replied.

There was silence for a moment.

"Cassie, what have you been teaching your brother?" Marika asked.

Suddenly, a giant shelf began falling down silently.

"Evan!" Cassie cried. He turned, to see the giant shelf tumbling towards him. It landed on his arm: Evan screamed out in pain. The entire group watched as his right hand skidded across the supermarket floor, trailing with blood on the white tile floor.

(insert this here:  watch?v=KolfEhV-KiA)

"Wha- wha- wha…" Elmer said, trying to understand what had just happened.

"Um, er, um, er," Marika said, like a robot.

"HOLY [censored] MY HAND IS GONE OH MY GOD THIS IS SO IRONIC I SURVIVE SO MUCH ONLY TO LOSE MY HAND TO A FALLING SHELF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Evan screamed.

"Aw gee" said Sammy.

Suddenly, a figure wreathed in blue flames jumped over the fallen shelf and landed directly onto Evan's face.

"GAHHHHHHH" Evan yelled as six-hundred thousand, seven-hundred-ninety volts of electricity flowed into his face through an electric foot.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY DID YOU TAKE ME HERE?" boomed the god-like figure.

"Dude, I think your caps lock is broken," Sammy remarked, addressing the god-like figure.

"Buu-uu-buh-uh-hu-n," Evan mumbled, dropping his sniper and stared at the electric man. A pudgy high schooler ran around the fallen shelf and did a double take when he saw the group of dangerously armed teenagers.

"Don't worry Michael, I'll take em'!" He yelled. He grabbed at his waistband, pulling out a black can. He sprayed it straight in Elmers face and yelled, "HA! GET PEPPER SPRAYED!" He turned to Caleb and kicked him in the face with his black leather shoes. CRACK! Blood sprayed out of Caleb's face as he flew to the ground.

"Aww, dude, what type of shoes are those anyways?" Caleb shouted, blood pouring from his face.

"My clogging shoes, sorry," he responded, the metal bottoms of his shoes glistening threateningly with Caleb's blood. Then Marika calmly stepped forward, and smashed the butt of her M16 into his face.

"TOTALLY UNCOOL!" Pudgy Teen murmured very loudly before passing out.

"Hey! You hit my friend in the face with a gun!" God-teen said angrily.

"Yep," Marika replied. "What are _you_ gonna do about it, skinny bones?"

"Ooh!" Ben said. Both in pain and in insult.

"CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT MY HAND?" Evan requested politely.

"Never mind your arm, we need to kill this God-teen," Cassie suggested.

That's when a random teenaged girl walked up behind her. "Sleep!" she said, putting her hand on Cassie's head (shameless GOTG plug, right there!). Cassie passed out.

"Hey!" Evan said. "You just went all Mantis on my girlfriend!"

"Mantis? Who's Mantis?" a smelly guy said, walking in.

"And who are you guys?" Caleb asked, stifling the flow of blood from his face.

"We're the Electroclan!" God-teen replied. "And you are?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Ya know, we've been friends for well over a year, and we still haven't come up with an official name," Evan remarked.

"Hmm, let's come up with one right now!" Cassie said, despite being unconscious.

"How about… the Take-Names-Kick-Donkey Association?" Marika suggested.

"No, too long," Evan replied.

"How about The Suicide Squad?" Sammy requested.

"Eh… That's already taken," Evan replied.

"How about… The TAAO Gang?" Lena decided.

"Sure we'll go with it," Evan replied. "By the way, what does TAAO stand for?"

"Never mind that now," Smelly Dude said. "Face my lightning!"  
Smelly Dude shot a couple bolts of lightning at Ben. "Ow," Ben said.

"Your lightning pales in comparison to mine!" God-teen screeched. He raised his hands, and lightning started collecting around them. He seemed to be about to release a blast with force equal to that of a thermonuclear bomb!

Then, the lightning vanished. God-teen shook his hands, trying to reawaken them.

"God[censored] aliens with their God[censored] EMPs!" God-teen exclaimed.

"Ah-HA!" Sleeping Cassie exclaimed. "We know your weakness!"

Evan made some dying animal noises, then fell over on his side.

"Cassie! Get me a band-aid!" he cried like a two-year-old.

"Shut up, I'm asleep," Cassie replied.

"Oh my God!" God-teen yelled (ha, ha, God-teen, Oh my God, funny). "I need lightning!"

"Chill, dude, I'll give you lightning," Smelly Dude said, raising his fingers and zapping God-teen with a blast of lightning.

"Oh, thanks, that feels so much better," God-teen said.

"Help!" Evan whimpered.

"I am _so_ tired of hearing you squealing," a blonde said from the corner. She came over and touched Evan: he immediately stopped squealing.

"Hey!" Cassie yelled, getting up. "Get your hands off of my husband!"

"I thought you were asleep," Mantis Chick said.

"Oh, right," Cassie said, falling over.

"Michael, give him a new hand," Blonde Chick said.

"Righto!" God-teen said, walking over to Evan. He grabbed Evan's little stump of an arm. Little sparks came out of his hands, licking Evan's arms, but causing no effect.

"Need… more… power!" God-teen said, obviously straining.

"Oh, I'll take care of that," a ginger girl said, dropping from the ceiling. She touched God-teen's arm, and God-teen's sparks started getting much more powerful (that sounds weird).

"Thanks, Tessa," Michael said.

"No problem!" Ginger Chick replied. With that, God-teen started producing the most powerful sparks known to mankind (OMG that sounds to weird). Slowly but surely, a knew hand started forming on Evan's stumpy arm. Soon enough, a completely new hand was grafted onto his arm.

"Oh my God!" Evan sighed happily. "That's much better!"

"Now that you've stopped screaming," God-teen said, "I'm gonna kill you!"

And his hands started lighting up again. But Evan was saved by luck, for the third time that day: a gunshot rang out, and a bullet sailed towards God-teen. It looked as though it was about to hit him, but it veered to the side, crashing into a cash register. The register exploded, sending bills flying everywhere.

"What the-" God-teen said, turning around, to see a Silencer. He was wearing a heavy jacket and baggy jeans, and on his feet were sandals and socks (fashionable). He had a receding hairline and a grizzled beard. His beard and (remaining) hair were reddish brown. A pair of spindly glasses were perched on his nose, and a Model 1985 Winchester was in his hands.

Already, he was loading another bullet.

"[censored]!" God-teen yelled. He released a few blasts of lightning towards the Silencer, who dodged out of the way with remarkable speed. The Silencer rolled behind a shelf.

"Zeus, go left!" God-teen commanded. "I'll go right! The rest of you, keep your eyes on these guys."

Then, he and smelly teen ran out to search for the Silencer, leaving Pudgy Teen, Ginger Chick, and Mantis Chick, and Blonde Chick to watch them.

"Aha!" Evan cried. "Little did you know, that I am the most powerful person here! Now, you will all face the wrath of me!"

Evan jumped up, doing a spinning kick and knocking Pudgy Teen unconscious. Ben karate-chopped Blonde Chick in the back of the neck, knocking _her_ unconscious. Mike grabbed a can of tuna and thwacked Mantis Chick over the head, knocking HER unconscious. This left Ginger Chick.

"Aha! Now you are all alone," Sammy said triumphantly.

"That's not necessarily true," Ginger Chick replied. "McKenna, show them your stuff!"

A bright light shone from the other side of the room. The TAAO Gang members turned to see a girl, standing there, glowing.

"Oh, cool, so you can glow," Cassie said, finally waking up.

"That's not the full extent of my powers!" Glowing Chick said. She screwed up her eyes in concentration, and started to glow brighter.

"You can… glow really brightly?" Lena asked confusedly.

Glowing Chick stopped glowing, and just stood there panting. "So… thirsty…. Need…. Water…..!"

Ginger Chick decided to take advantage of the momentary distraction. He punched Evan in the side as hard as she could. It did literally nothing. Evan turned and looked at her for a moment, before punching her in the face and sending her flying into a shelf.

"Can we sign a non-aggression pact?" Elmer asked, addressing Glowing Chick.

"Sure," Glowing Chick replied.

"Can I have Military Access?" Elmer asked.

"... No…."

"I'll give you Military Access if you give me Military Access."

"...No…"

"I'll even throw in a Guarantee Independence!"

"...No…."

"Oh, come on, just give me Military Access!" Elmer yelled in frustration.

"No," Glowing Chick replied. "Non-aggression Pact only, no other deals allowed."

"Ugh, fine," Elmer replied. "Hey, guys! I signed a Non-aggression Pact with Glowing Chick, which means our faction can't fight their faction anymore."

"Okay," Caleb replied.

"In that case…" Evan said.

"Let's help them kill that Silencer!" Cassie suggested.  
"Too late," God-teen said, walking in and dragging the Silencer's corpse.

"Oh, gee," Mike remarked. "I don't think they needed help."

"We have slain the beast!" Smelly Dude said, drumming his chest. "Now, you must die!"

"Actually, no," Glowing Chick said.

"Y knot?" God-teen asked, clearly confused.

"B3c4u53 1 51gn3d 4 n0n-4ggr35510n p4c7 w17h 7h3m," Glowing Chick replied.

"Oh, okay," God-teen replied. "But did you give them military access?"

"No, I did not," Glowing Chick answered.

"Ah-HA!" Smelly Dude said, turning to the TAAO Gang. "She didn't give you Military Access, so get out of our store!"

"Okay, fine!" Elmer yelled. "Alright, guys, we gotta get out of here."

"Ugh, fine," Cassie said. And the TAAO Gang walked out of the shop. No one knew that Mike had a thing full of ice cream in his arms.

* * *

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that was really weird," Elmer said basically.

No one had talked for the hour since they had all left the store, where the lightning people were. They were all too shocked. The events that had occured inside the supermarket were much too mysterious and odd.

"Uh, ya," Evan replied. "I lost my hand, and now I have a new one. I don't think it works right, either."

Evan's new hand was sparking and twitching wildly, bursts of electricity traveling across it.

"Ah, well, it'll break in soon," Cassie replied.

"So, Lena," Caleb remarked, "what do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Lena replied, "but I get the feeling that it's something to do with the way the Matrix works. Manipulating electricity shouldn't be possible. However, bringing someone back from the dead shouldn't be able to happen. So, it's probably a Matrix power they have."

"Oh!" Mike said. "So, they have Matrix powers?"

"Theoretically," Lena replied. "But we've had some weird stuff happen to us lately. I think that we need to get to Area 51, so let's hurry on our way."

"Yes, let's go," Marika decided. "To Area 51…. And beyond!"


	17. Elmer Dies in Infinity War!

**Marika**

Marika was scavenging for food, in the middle of decimated Vegas, when the TAAO Gang met them. They were traveling through, and found Vegas. They needed food so Marika kinda went off on her own and Ben followed her.

"Ben, stop following me," she told him.

"Why?" Ben asked, making a sort of funny pouty face. Marika almost smiled.

"Because you're annoying."

"OOF!" Ben exclaimed.

"You're so weird!" Marika muttered. She continued to look for food in the abandoned grocery store they were in. She found a promising looking cardboard box, but it was full of dog food. Eww. Then she heard thundering noise. It crescendoed into a super loud booming that was making all the cans on the ground jump up and down! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM! Marika thought her eardrums had been blown out, because she couldn't hear a thing. She saw Ben stumble around, confused at what had made the noise.

"BEN!" Marika shouted. She could just barely hear herself.

"What?" he said. Marika's hearing was slowly returning. She stumbled out the door of the store, eager to investigate. _Maybe it was a silencer!_ she thought, and fear seized her. She stopped in her tracks and saw a massive crater where some sort of a meteor must have crashed down to earth. Massive mounds of dirt were piled up to the sides of the huge scar in the earth. Marika could tell some sort of a building had been crushed.

"Elmer? Lena? Caleb? Mike?" her frantic cry echoed around the little town for a second.

Then she heard, "Yes? What? Huh?" and a "What?"

"Where are you guys?" Marika asked.

"Down here!" A high pitched voice yelled, probably Lena. Marika could tell the voice was coming from the crater. "You had better come take a look at this!"

* * *

 **Lena FPPOV**

Lena had ran outside and slid down into the crater pretty fast, she was super excited to see what had made the noise. But what she saw totally surprised her. It was a black metallic pod of some sort, made out of a metal of extraordinary strength, to have survived that collision. The pod was tapered at the end, with little boosterjet things at the fat end.

"Elmer? Lena? Caleb? Mike?" Lena heard.

"Yes?" hollered Elmer.

"What?" Lena squeaked.

"Huh?" said Caleb.

"What?" yelled Mike.

"Where are you guys?" Lena could tell this was Marika.

"Down here!" Lena yelled. "You had better come take a look at this!"

Pretty soon, Marika and Ben were sliding down the crater edge, and joining the group inspecting the space pod.

The duo's eyes widened. Marika started to ask a question. "What so you thi-" Suddenly, a door popped open on the side of the pod, swinging upwards, hitting Elmer in the face and knocking him to the ground.

"YOWEEE!" He shouted, blood spouting out of his nose.

Out of the pod stepped the most horrific creature Lena had ever seen. He was really tall, easily 6' 5" tall. But the scary part about him was his face. It was crimson red, and covered in scars and burns. And, he didn't have a nose. Just two little breathing holes on his face.

"Outta' my way kids. He grumbled, stepping out of the pod, directly onto Elmers bloodied face.

"OWWWWWWW!" he screamed.

Scary space man grunted in surprise. His black leather boots had blood all over them. He pushed past the super surprised Ben and Marika, and stepped into the middle of the crater. His matching black leather trench coat swayed in the breeze. He murmured for a minute then pulled a strange looking gun thing out of his holster.

He stared Lena in the eye, then said, "Who are you, and where am I. Planet and solar system please."

Lena trembled in fear before answering: "I-II-I-I'm L-LL-L-Lena, a-aa-a-a-and y-"

"STOP IT with the stutterings girl or I'll shoot you all dead!" He swung his gun around to point at our group.

"Well, yo-ou a-are i-i-in the mi-milky-" Suddenly, a swwoooooosh noise occurred above them. A sleek silver jet cruised down from the sky, coming in for a harsh landing above the crater. The bay door dropped to the ground and out stormed what looked to be a team of super heroes. There was one in an iron suit that was flying around, albeit rather inaccurately, a boy who shot webs out of his hands, a blonde bodybuilder wielding an electric hammer, a giant green man, and a black man in a black suit who had cat claws. They charged the hideous red man, whose face lost all its red color in a millisecond.

"No! They are already here!" He ran back into the pod, stepping on Elmers face yet again. Elmer screamed in agony and spewed up some more blood.

The team of heroes descended into the crater. "Come out Red Skull!" The one in the iron armor yelled. "Give cap back to us!" He stuck out his palms and they fizzled and grew brighter. Then, they shot balls of blue energy at the black pod. Just as he fired the first round, he jerked sideways and fell out of the air.

"System Failure. System failure." A female robotic voice stated. He growled and laid on the ground. "Stupid frickin aliens and their stupider fricken EMP's!" The rest of the team charged, but were met by the ugly red man, "Red Skull" who was carrying a large red cone thing on his head, which had tubes leading down to his arms, and a backpack component wired into the helmet. It was all glowing red. Suddenly, a Man clad in red, white, and blue holding a red white and blue shield sprinted out of the pod, his eyes glowing red. His face was completely emotionless. He also stepped on Elmers face, which caused more blood, and more disfiguration. Elmer crawled through the bloody dirt and finally ceased to move, simply crying at the rest of the groups feet.

The rest of them just stared on in awe, awaiting something else that might make their jaws drop even further. Red Skull seemed to be controlling the red white and blue man, (lets just call him RWB Man, for simplicity sake) when Red Skull punched into thin air, RWB Man's shield connected with the jaw of the man clad in black who had cat claws. They brawled for some time.

The RWB Man and Red Skull were losing though. The giant green man roared in rage and picked up the pod, with some difficulty, then slammed it down onto RWB Man, who almost dodged it, except his leg, which was trapped underneath it.

The intense red glow in his eyes faltered for a second, and Iron Man called out to him from his position on the ground. "Cap, it's me! Tony! Remember me?" RWB Man's face twisted into a sort of a tentative smile, then he shook his head and growled, the red glow in his eyes returning. He yelled in pain and rage and escaped from underneath the twisted metal pod.

Red Skull leaped onto the unsuspecting spider boy and stuck his gauntleted arm into the boy's face. The spider boy yelped and shook, as if having a seizure. He glowed bright red then stopped shaking.

"Peter!" The blonde hammer wielding one cried. "Nooooooo!" The spider boy stood up, his face devoid of emotion and eyes glowing red just like RWB Man's. Then he charged the people he had just been fighting with. He shot a web into the hammer wielders eye's. The ripped blonde yelled in surprise and was tackled by RWB Man, his hammer falling loose from his grip with a thud. RWB Man landed punch after punch right into the blonde's nose, without ever showing signs of exhaustion. Red Skull stuck his hands into blonde's face and he too was controlled by Red Skull. Devoid of emotion, eyes glowing red.

"Thor! NOOOOO!" The cat man yelled. The three stood up in unison, heading towards the green giant and the black dude. The black dude took a few steps back from the oncoming horde, and the green giant began to shrink, turning into a nude guy in his forties. The black guy took a quick glance over at the TAAO Gang and yelled "HELP MEEEE!"

* * *

 **Marika**

The spell of paralysis was broken. Marika suddenly realized that this was an opportunity to shoot things! She took command quickly. "Lena, see if you can help iron-man, Mike, help cat dude, Elmer, uhh, sit tight I guess, Caleb, take up a sniping position, only shoot at ugly red guy. Me and Ben will take out Red Skull." Everyone recovered from their shock and loaded their weapons.

Ben signaled Marika that they should go around the pod and suprise Red Skull. "Okay," she signalled back. They snuck around the twisted wreckage of the pod and saw Red Skull, in his black leather uniform, prancing around with glee. There was a mad fire in his eyes, and he seemed to want the destruction of these people. Marika suddenly had doubts. They didn't know these people, why were they helping them? She stopped sneaking, and Ben gave her a confused look. She decided quickly that whatever this guy had or was going to do probably wasn't good. Red Skull and his mind slaves had almost encircled the used-to-be-massive-green-giant-and-now-is-a-forty-year-old-weirdo and the black cat guy. Mike had whipped out an M60, the massive gun seemed to weigh nothing to him. Their group had been backed up to the edge of the crater, but the walls of this side were to steep to climb out of.

Ben sneaked right up behind the crazy Red Skull and whipped out his M16. BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! Red Skull's head was now an even redder bloody pulp. He slammed into the ground, and the group of three red-eyed people's eyes had returned to normal, and a rigidness Marika hadn't noticed about them faded away as their expressions turned to those of extreme shock, especially RWB Man.

Lena seemed to have fixed iron-man, because he was running over to RWB Man, asking him if he was okay and such. Caleb looked disappointed as to not having gotten to use his sniping skillz. The group of heroes made their way over to us, talking amongst themselves for some time. Lena walked over with iron-man, and Caleb slid down the crater wall, wielding his M4. Elmer still laid in the dirt, seemingly unconscious.

RWB man stepped up from the group. "Thank you guys so much for saving our [censored]es. I'm Captain America by the way."

"Ohhhhh!" Caleb exclaimed. "Thaaats what the red white and blue are for! I thought it was like France man or Russia man or something, you know, cuz they also have red white an-"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it kid." Iron Man said. "We are the Avengers, and that guy," he pointed to the bloody mess that once was Red Skull, "Had mind controlled cap here," he pointed to Captain America "and stole him and an infinity stone to power his device."

He carefully plucked a yellow stone off of the backpack part of the apparatus that Red Skull was wearing. He stuck it in a little pocket that extended out of his suit. It retracted back in. "We specialize in saving the world." The blonde said. "I'm Thor by the way, son of Odin, wielder of Mjolnir, brother of Loki, defeater of Ragnarok, god of warriors, champion of the go-"

"I am Black Panther, ruler of Wakanda" The black dude said in a really heavy South African accent.

"I'm Bruce Banner, or the Hulk," Naked Forty-Year-Old aka green giant said.

"I'm Peter Pa- I mean Spiderman." Spider teen said.

"We should get going, SHIELD will be wanting the Mind Stone as soon as possible." Suddenly, a blast of thunder came from the skies. A golden spaceship hovered over the crater. The TAAO Gang's jaws immediately dropped. A ray of purple light shot down from the ship and a purple giant clad in golden armor appeared in the ray of light.

"I will fix you, brother!" He yelled and grabbed the bloodied corpse of Red Skull. He beamed back up to his spaceship before Iron-Man could grab him. The golden ship zoomed off as quickly as it had arrived.

"[censored] you Thanos! [censored]! Gahhhhh!" Screamed Iron Man. "I don't wanna have to kill you again!"

"Well, thanks again you guys! We had better go take care of that." Captain America said, putting on a forced smile. The group ran back to their silver jet and took to the skies.

"Well wasn't THAT interesting," Elmer said sarcastically, suddenly awake.

"What. The. [censored]. Just. Happened?" Marika asked.

"We need to rest," Ben decided.

* * *

 **Ben**

The exhausted group roamed to the designated rendezvous with Cassie, Sammy, and Evan- they planned on meeting in an old hotel in downtown Vegas. Ben led the way to the hotel, and everyone moved up to Room 21 (the designated room).

"I feel like we just checked into Hotel California," Marika remarked, which caused Ben to spontaneously start singing 'Hotel California'.

When he was finished, Caleb remarked, "Seeing as we're still in Nevada, I think we haven't checked into Hotel California quite yet."

Caleb was trying to mend the wounds of a highly traumatized Elmer. Lena was finding some medicine for him. Meanwhile, Ben was scouting out the room. There were three queen-sized beds in separate rooms and a pullout and a couch in the living room.

"So, Marika and I will take the bedroom coming off the living room," Ben decided. "Lena and Mike'll take the one next to the bathroom, and Cassie and Evan'll take the one coming off of the kitchen."

"Sounds good," said Marika.

"Sammy can sleep with his sleeping bag on the small couch," Ben continued. "Elmer can sleep on the pullout, and I guess Caleb will have to sleep on the floor somewhere."

"No," said Marika. "There's a cot in the closet over there."

"Okay, cool," Ben said. "Lena, keep working on Elmer, please. Everyone else, we need to clean this place up, get a fire going, and start cooking some food. I want this place in tip-top shape when Evan, Cassie, and Sammy get here."

Everyone got to work. Mike got his matches to start a fire, and pulled out some hot dogs to roast. Marika started working on making the beds and stuff. Ben walked over to the bathroom to get to work.

Someone had attempted to make the toilet functional post-EMP. They had somehow or other dug a tunnel leading down to several pipes, so that flushing wouldn't be necessary but sewage would still go down. Ben supposed it was a good idea. He also checked out the rest of the bathroom: a hand sanitizer bottle replaced the traditional sink, due to the fact that the sink would not work.

"The bathroom looks okay," Ben said, coming out. "Are you guys done with your stuff yet?"

"Chill, Ben," Mike said. "You were gone for like, thirty seconds. I started the fire, getting ready to cook. Marika's still making Cassie and Evan's bed."

"No, I'm not," Marika said, popping out of the kitchen. "I'm going to do Mike and Lena's now."

"Oh, cool," Ben said. "Where're Sammy and Caleb?"

"They're trying to clean the kitchen," Marika said. "See you guys later!"

With that, she popped into Mike and Lena's room.

"How's Elmer?" Ben asked Lena.

"He's asleep, but he's gonna be okay in a minute," Lena replied. Ben nodded and went to the kitchen to help.

* * *

About an hour later, everything was cleaned up, Mike had several hotdogs insulated in tin foil, and everyone else was helping Cassie and Evan carry in the loot. Ben and Marika were taking inventory of the food.

"Let's see here," Ben said. "Area 51 is only, like, five days away from here. We need food for five days, and we'll probably stay here for, like, ten days. That makes fifteen days' worth. Do we have that, Marika?"

"Let's see…" Marika said, holding up the list. "We've got Mike's hotdogs, which makes twelve meals' worth for all of us. We've also got six packs of pudding, four pepperoni sticks, a pizza lunchable, a carton of ice cream, thirteen bags of freeze-dried stroganoff, a box of tater-tots that we can fire-roast, two cans of tomato soup, a tin of sardines, fourteen boxes of club crackers, two summer sausages, and a big package of sharp cheddar."

"Hmmm," Ben said. "That might not be enough, especially since you girls eat a lot more these days."

"Hey guys, don't forget about the roast beef," Caleb called from the kitchen.

"Ah, yes, the roast beef," Ben said.

"What I wanna know is how the ice cream isn't melted," Marika said, holding up the carton.

"Good question," Ben replied. "Probably something to do with the Matrix glitching out."

"True, Lena did say that there were a fair number of bugs occuring," Marika remarked.

"Hey guys," Mike called. "Get over here, we're gonna tell Evan and Cassie what happened now."

"Oh boy," Ben said. "This should be fun."

* * *

"Uh, no. I don't think so," Cassie said. "You're trying to tell me that you guys were just walking through town, when a bunch of ridiculously powerful people started beating up a literal red skull who was mind controlling everyone-"

"It wasn't a _literal_ red skull," Caleb said. "Red Skull is an epithet."

"An epi-what/?"

"You know, an epithet," Caleb said. "Like a moniker, or a soliquet."

"Or an appellation, or a byname," Mike added unhelpfully.

"Or a byword, or a-"

"I don't know Mandarin Chinese," Cassie said.

Caleb sighed. "It's like a nickname."

"Oh," Cassie said. "Well, that doesn't make your story any more believable. I _don't_ believe it. I _won't_ believe it. This story is utter bull[censored] and it can't be true! Personally, I think it's all a bunch of hogwash, and Evan does too!"

"Actually, I'm more inclined to believe the others," Evan said. "Due to the fact that the Iron Man they described is hovering eerily outside the window."

"He is?" Mike said, turning around to see Iron Man floating outside the window.

"Hey guys," Iron Man said. "I just wanted to let you know that we're gonna be fighting Grape Man on the roof, and you probably should stay inside, to avoid discomfort- and death…"

"Tony!" someone yelled. "We're getting destroyed up here!"

"Coming!" Iron Man yelled back, before flying up out of view.

All the members of the TAAO Gang gazed at each other.

"Well, uh, goodnight!" Lena said, heading off to bed. Everyone took that as a cue to go to bed as well.

Laying in bed, listening to the sounds of explosions on the roof, Ben thought over the day they had just enjoyed, and the future of the group of friends. Area 51 wasn't far: they would stay in LA for a while, before embarking on the final leg of their journey.

What would they find in Area 51? Perhaps they would find secret government projects, the sort of weapons they could use to destroy the Others once and for all? Perhaps they would find a time machine, to go back in time and stop the Others before the waves even began? Or maybe they wouldn't find a way to stop the Others, but they would find a way to live a normal life, with creature comforts and company, where they could raise their children in peace and safety?

All that remains to be seen. For now, Ben can only wonder what is to come: the power to lay waste, or to raise new life?

 **End of Chapter 18**


	18. The Halfway Point has Been Reached

**Ben**

Groom Lake was rather wet. Ben found this out when he tripped on the root, plunging into lake. Gasping and spluttering, he dragged himself back on land, while everyone laughed at him.

"That's unfortunate…" Marika said in a mock-sad voice.

"You guys were supposed to be my friends!" Ben said angrily.

"Oh, did you fall in a lake?" asked Cassie.

"What do _you_ think?" asked Ben.

"I think you fell in Groom Lake!" Cassie said. "Which means Area 51 is rather close!"

"Ooh, great!" Lena said tiredly. "I'm tired of hiking with a rather large baby…"

"Righto," said Evan. "We need to get to Area 51 soon, and prepared for children coming soon."

So they hiked around the lake to the other side, where there was a large metal door with a keypad.

"I guess this is Area [censored]ing 51, or the exterior," Sammy remarked.

"You shouldn't use that word, Sammy," Cassie replied.

"What, _[censored]_?" Sammy asked.

"No, exterior," Cassie replied.

"Why not?"

"It's too advanced for your age," Cassie replied. "I didn't know how to say "exterior" until I was thirteen."

"Um, Cass," Evan remarked, "I'm pretty sure the f-word isn't age appropriate either."

"I was saying that when _I_ was his age."

"That's freaky," Marika chimed (ah, heeck ya. She _chimed._ I bet YOU don't see that word used very often.).

"Cut the chatter, let's knock!" Elmer said aggressively. He walked up to the door and rapped loudly three times.

The team waited a few minutes, before they heard a muffled female voice: "What's the password?"

"Um, there's a password?" Cassie asked.

"Ya, just type it in on that keypad!" the voice replied. "Seven numbers required!"

"I'm sorry, we really can't wait," Elmer said. "We've got three teenagers in relatively late stages of pregnancy that really need to lie down."

"No password, no entry!" the voice said happily.

"Fine then," Evan said. "Mike?"

"Exactly," Mike replied. Evan and him both lined up, yelled a battle cry, and charged the door. Instead of flying off its hinges, however, the door repelled Mike and Evan like ragdolls, and sent them falling to the floor.

A little slat in the door opened, and a pair of brown eyes (on asian skin) appeared. A clearer rendition of the voice laughed stupidly. Then, the slat closed.

Evan and Mike got to their feet, dusting themselves off. "Oof," Evan said sagely.

"Fine then!" Elmer yelled to the unknown person. "We'll just type in every combination of the ten digits that exists, and we'll get in eventually."

"Elmer, there's an easier way to this," Mike said stubbornly. "If we can't go through the door…"

"We go around it!" Lena said.

"Exactly!" Evan chimed (ha! Ha! Chimed!).

Everyone grabbed shovels and started digging around the wall. Eventually, after about an hour, they revealed a sizable patch of wall.

"Let's see if this is any easier to bust through!" yelled Mike, then he kicked the wall in.

"Aw, [censored]," they heard the voice say resignedly. Everyone marched in.

"Hello," Marika said pleasantly. The woman looked up: she seemed to be about nineteen, tall for her age, yet rather thin. She was asian, with a heart-shaped face, and shoulder-length straight dark hair. She was dressed in a nurse's jacket, and a pair of black jeans. She jumped up and started running down the hall.

"You'll never take me alive!" she yelled, and promptly tripped on a lead pipe.\

"Carter!" she yelled as she struggled to get up. Immediately, a man walked around the corner.

Carter had extraordinarily pale skin and ridiculously spiky (and messy) black hair. He seemed to have been recently zapped by electricity, due to the burnt patches on his lab coat. He was wearing no pants, but had a pair of boxers on.

"Yeeeeeeeeeees, m'lady?" Carter said woozily, before fainting on a newly standing-up female nurse teenager. They both crashed to the floor.

"I'm sorry, Adisyn," Carter said weakly. Adisyn screamed in frustration.

Meanwhile, the heroes of our story were having a hard time overcoming their seizures of laughter. Mike and Ben were rolling around on the floor. Marika's chest was heaving, and she was having difficulty breathing. Lena and Cassie were both banging their heads into the wall. Sammy was silently sobbing from laughing so hard. Only Evan controlled himself: and that was with a tiny grin on his face.

"Stop laughing!" Adisyn yelled. Everyone immediately stopped.

"Well," Adisyn muttered, dragging herself out from under Carter, "welcome to Area 51."

"So we can stay?" Cassie asked.

"Yes… I suppose…" Adisyn said. "But if you stay, you'll have to fulfill your responsibilities to the community. And that includes fixing the wall you broke down."

"Oh," Mike said embarrassedly.

"What about those of us planning to have children in a matter of one-to-three months?" asked Lena.

"Oh, yes, follow me to the hospital," Adisyn murmured distractedly. Not at all like the Adisyn they heard originally.

She started walking down one of the hallways, and Cassie/Ringer/Lena followed her.

"Okay, so I suppose we should wait until Carter wakes up," Ben said.

"In the meantime, I'll fix the wall," Mike said. He walked over to the knocked-out part of the wall, picked it up and jammed it back in. At the noise, Carter woke up.

"Wha- oh," said Carter in a normal voice. "Welcome to Area 51, a survivor community, and one of the few places left in the world with power."

"Wait," Sammy said excitedly. "There's power?"

"Yes," replied Carter, "and over one-hundred survivors camped out."

"Cool!" Mike exclaimed.

"You will receive daily schedules, each of which dictates exactly how every day will be spent. You will all be assigned to various chores to help the colony prosper. You will also be granted free time. Those who are hospitalized have exceptions."

"Um, great I guess?" Caleb said. "What if we were just stopping by?"

"Then I assume you'll leave, right?" Carter replied. "You can't take anything when you go, though."

"We'll stay long enough for the girls to have their kids," Mike decided.

"I approve," Elmer stated. "Where do we sleep?"

"You guys will be assigned a room, where the six of you can sleep," Carter answered. "You will be given the number in the mess hall at dinner time."

"Where's the mess hall, and when's dinner time?" Sammy asked eagerly.

"Here're your watches and maps," Carter said, handing each of them a map and watch. "Dinner's at six o'clock, so in roughly one hour. _Don't be late!"_

"Yes sir," Mike said feebly. He was looking at the sprawling map of Area 51, which seemed to be a senseless maze of corridors with random rooms scattered throughout.

"Um, how are we supposed to find our way around in this labyrinth?" Elmer asked.

"It might be hard at first," Carter said, "but you'll eventually get used to the pattern."

"One more thing," Evan said. "What's in the restricted area?"

Carter turned his full face towards Evan, and glared. Evan gulped.

"No one goes in there. _No one!"_ he said coldly. "Not even I go in there. It's a restricted area within a restricted area. This is something bad. I don't go in there, and I'm the leader of this colony."

"Okay, okay!" Evan said. "Just asking…"

"Now, I shall go make my appearance decent, before dinner," Carter said, reverting back to his normal voice. "Feel free to roam around, try to get a feel for the place."

* * *

 **Mike**

Getting a feel for the place didn't work out so well. All the sextet managed to do was get themselves lost several times and arrive barely in time for dinner. They walked into the dining room, and a guard pointed them to a table (at which an african-american man sat).

They walked to the table, which was labeled Room 213. The man at the table looked up, and both Mike and Evan jumped at the same time.

"Morpheus!" Mike said in shock, as a grin spread across his face. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story, Mike," Morpheus replied, smiling himself. "A very long story. I'll tell you mine later. For now, I wanna know what happened to _you_."

"Sorry for interrupting what is obviously a happy reunion," Ben said, throwing himself into a chair. "But who the [censored] are you?"

"Mike, you didn't tell them?" Morpheus asked.

"I did! Ben's just got a poor memory."

"I remember the story about Morpheus!" Sammy said.

"See, Sammy remembers!" Mike said.

"I think I know who you're talking about now…" said Caleb.

"Isn't he like the King of Zion, or something?" asked Elmer.

"President, now, I'll tell you my half later," Morpheus said. "I wanna hear what you guys are doing. And who _are_ these guys? Where are Lena and Justin?"

Mike internally flinched at the sound of Justin's name. "Before we start, how much food do we get?"

"Tomorrow, you'll go to an orientation," Morpheus said. "At the orientation, they will issue your schedules, room locations, and they will measure your age and weight to determine your daily nutritional requirements. They will then fulfill those requirements, without giving any more or less food than is needed."

"Alright," Caleb said.

"You'll be given a period of seven days, during which you are not required to do work, but are instead required to be spending most of your time exploring and resting, in order to get in proper physical and mental shape. You will not be required to attend the cafeteria during this week, and you'll instead have food delivered to you, to be eaten at your leisure."

"Great!" Sammy said.

"Afterwards, though, you will be required to stick to an extensive schedule," Morpheus said. "Now, in just a minute, they'll call us up to get food."

"We'll tell our story after we get food," Mike said. "How long is dinner?"

"Approximately two hours."

"Should be long enough to give a rough version of our tale," said Evan. The bell rang, and the friends went up to get food.

At the table, everyone pitched in, starting from the beginning, to assemble a comprehensive story, leading all the way up to that very moment. At the end, Morpheus looked shocked and sad.

"So Justin is dead?" he said in a hollow voice as they left the cafeteria.

"Yes," Mike replied solemnly. "He was the best in our group."

Morpheus nodded. "I'll tell you my end when we get to Room 213."

* * *

 **Marika**

"Rather nice, isn't it?" Marika said, addressing Adisyn.

"Indeed, much nicer than typical bunk-rooms," Adisyn replied. Marika was lying on a featherbed, which looked somewhat out-of-place in a hospital room.

"Here, our primary concern is keeping you comfortable and healthy," Adisyn said.

"Hmm," Marika replied. "How long am I here?"

"Until you have a baby," Adisyn said, "which is why you're here."  
"Any time _afterwards?_ " Marika asked.

"Two weeks," Adisyn confirmed.

"Great," Marika said.

"Bye," Adisyn said. Then he left.

* * *

 **Elmer**

Morpheus led the sextet down the various hallways, to a downward staircase, which led to a large room.

"This is the room of compartments," Morpheus said. "A compartment is a small but comfortable room with two three-bed bunks and a proper bed. The compartments are soundproof, and there are many compartments stacked in this room. They are also gender-separate."

"How to we get up to ours?" asked Mike.

"You simply call down a staircase leading to your room," said Morpheus. "Like so!"

Morpheus walked to a keypad, and typed in 213. At once, a staircase descended from above, leading to a metal door in the side of a wall. Elmer led the way up the staircase, eventually opening the door to the compartment.

"This is neat," Mike said, looking around. "Somewhere comfortable!" The bunk beds looked rather similar to bunks you would see in the room of two twins. Mattresses, sheets, quilts, and comforters were lying on the bunks. The floor was laminate, and there were several luggage compartments. Morpheus had already taken the solo bed, and the boys moved around claiming bunks. Elmer ended up in a middle bunk between Caleb (top) and Ben (bottom). Evan got the bottom bunk on the other side of the room, beneath Mike (middle) and Sammy (top).

"Now, Morpheus," Mike said from his bunk. "You promised that you would tell us your end of the story."

"Oh yes," Morpheus said wearily. "Before I tell it, though, do you guys have the Changer?"

"Ya," said Mike. "It's in my pack…"  
Mike got up, and walked over to his storage rack. He opened his pack, and started rifling through it. "Oh, come on, it's in here somewhere…" Mike said. After a couple minutes, he came up empty.

"Everyone, search your packs right now," he said. Everyone got up, and started going through their own packs. No one had it.

"Well," Elmer said in a reasonable voice, "we haven't checked the girls' packs, so it's not lost yet."

"Ya," said Mike. "Ya, he's right. Tell your story, Morpheus."

Morpheus looked worried. "Okay," he said. "It all started in Zion…" and he repeated his story up to the moment when he saw Teacup's group, and his group turned back.

"You were _so_ close to finding us," Elmer said sadly.

"And you're the One?" Mike said in an impressed voice.

"Yes, yes, but let me continue!" Morpheus said. "We went back to the cabin, and lost valuable time following false trails. That's how you guys got so far ahead of us, even though we could move much faster than you, and we suffered no delays. Eventually, we went back to the right trail, then traced you guys across America. Finally, we figured out where you guys were going, then intercepted you at Area 51."

"Where are your other friends?" asked Ben.

"They're back in the Real World," said Morpheus. "There _are_ functioning phones here."

"Yes!" said Mike.

"I dunno, Mike," Evan interrupted. "I don't think we can go back until we successfully free everyone else from the Matrix."

"Good point," Mike admitted. "I don't want to leave behind my friends."

"We came to the Matrix to rescue you guys!" Morpheus said angrily.

"I know, but we need to rescue _our_ friends," said Mike. "What you need to do is help us. We need you to head back to the Real World, quiet the revolution that's starting, and prepare your best hovercraft for use. Also, can you get us some Red Pills?"

"I can't get any Red Pills for your friends," said Morpheus. "After the Matrix lost power, it isolated itself and somewhat spilled out into the Real World a bit. If you do the advanced calculus, you would realize that only Red Pills in the Matrix would work for getting out of here now."

"Do you know where some are stored?" asked Evan.

"Yes," said Morpheus. "The nearest stash is a little Texan town called Marble Falls."

"Okay, so I suppose we should go there next," Elmer hypothesized.

"Exactly!" Ben said. "We wait for the girls to be finished, then we get the group, leave Area 51, and head to Marble Falls. Lena and Marika could figure out some way to get a phone to work over there…."

"And I'll be ready to fly into Machine City with my team," said Morpheus, "and save your friends from the Cryozone."

"Cryozone?" asked Evan confusedly.

"Yes," said Morpheus. "After the Machines lost their human batteries, they took said batteries out of their tanks, put them in a freezer, and allowed the Matrix to generate its much-less plentiful independent energy while they figured out how to reactivate the Matrix."

"I see…" said Mike. "So, you guys will do that. Then, there's still the problem of those android-things, and the second Mothership."

"Oh ya, them," said Morpheus. "They haven't attacked since that first attack. I suspect they'll attack again though… I don't even know why they're on Earth in the first place…"

After that, the group decided they would settle in for the night. After the unpacked and made their beds, they played Chess until Morpheus yelled "By George! It's ten o'clock! Everyone in bed!"

Then, everyone went to bed and had a good night's sleep.

* * *

 **Lena**

When Lena woke up, she saw Adisyn working on paperwork in the corner.

"Oh, good," she said. "You're awake!"

"Ya," said Lena tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

"Your food is on the bedside table."

Lena looked over to see eggs, sausage, and cheese on a buttermilk biscuit. "How can you guys afford to spend so much food on us unproductive citizens?"

"We have more food than you'd think," Adisyn replied. "Quite a lot, actually." There were a few minutes of silence while Lena ate her sandwich.

"Got a boyfriend?" asked Adisyn.

"Oh, yes," said Lena. "All three of us do."

"You know, we have a reverend," Adisyn replied. "You guys could be legally married."

"Ooh! That'd be wonderful! Get the others, let's plan!"

* * *

 **Evan**

Evan read from the note during breakfast at the compartment.

"You and Cassie Sullivan are to be legally married on Wednesday evening, along with two other couples. The two of you should be there at five, the guests should be there at six, the wedding starts at seven. Will take place in the Chapel."

"Wonderful! Congratulations!" Elmer said excitedly.

"We were never engaged…" Evan said in a bewildered voice.

"I've got one, too!" said Mike, "but for me and Lena!"

"And Marika and I!" Ben chimed (haha hahahahahahahahhahaha hahahaha hahhahahahaha hhaa hahahahah! He chimed!).

"Well…" Mike said thoughtfully. "Morpheus, where can we get tuxedos?"

"I believe you get clothes for special occasions when they give you the colonial uniforms," Morpheus replied. "But I'm checking out and leaving the Matrix now. Bye!"

"Bye!" said Mike. "See you on the other side!"

* * *

 **Caleb**

The next part of the visit at Area 51 was Orientation. The six boys were brought into a room with several other people of all ages. They waited in a line, and when Caleb got to the front, he was taken to some sort of multi-use booth thing.

He was measured, he was asked his age, he was weighed, he was asked questions about his allergies, was he a vegan, was he a vegetarian. He wasn't either, but he was allergic to peanut butter.

Finally, he was given his kit, with his schedule, seven days worth of grey uniform, underclothes, and nightclothes, as well as a swimsuit, a pair of hiking boots, seven pairs of socks, and a suit for special occasions. In addition to clothes, he was given a schedule.

"There are two work blocks," said the woman at the booth. "Two hours after breakfast, two hours after lunch. Every other hour is free time unless you are required for other duties."

Caleb looked at his schedule. First Work Block: Janitorial Duties. Second Work Block: Laundering.

"Janitorial Duties and Laundering," Caleb said disappointedly, back in the compartment.

"Ha!" said Mike. "I got Farm work and Cooking."

"I have Hunting," said Evan, "and Quartermaster Assistance."

"I don't know how to do any of _my_ jobs," Ben said sadly. "I've got Vehicular Maintenance and Electrical Engineering." Everyone stared at Ben in awe.

"Lucky," Elmer said enviously. "I've got Dishwashing… both blocks!"

Everyone started laughing madly. "What's Sammy going to do?" Caleb asked curiously.

"The schedule says I'm not old enough to participate in Adult Labor," Sammy said in a puzzled voice.

"Nuh-uh!" Mike said.

"I don't understand it either," Sammy remarked.

"Good God, Sammy!" said Elmer. "It means you won't be doing any chores!"

" _OH!"_ Sammy said happily.

"We should probably walk to dinner, now," Evan said. "We don't wanna be late."

The members of the six-man group agreed, and they walked out the door, down the hall, toward the cafeteria for their first breakfast.

Once they entered the cafeteria, they walked to Table 213, and sat down. Soon enough, they were called up to the Food Cart to be outfitted.

When Caleb reached the front counter, the server asked his name.

"Caleb Brockton," he responded. The server consulted a clipboard, then handed Caleb a platter and an ID card.

"Hand this to the servers, and they'll give you your breakfast portion," the server said shortly. " _Don't lose this card!"_

"Okay," Caleb said. He took the tray, visiting various stations. He ended up with two pancakes, three strips of bacon, and a twelve-ounce glass of milk.

At one point, all of us were sitting together. Evan, Ben, and Mike, who were the older and larger boys, had larger and more various plates, while Elmer and I had similarly sized plates. Sammy had a rather small portion, in comparison.

Eventually, breakfast ended at eight o'clock. Everyone left, to go explore the place. We were in a group, walking around the halls, getting the feel for the place.

At one point, they found it. The door to the Restricted Area.

"What do you think is on the other side?" asked Mike curiously.

"You heard what Carter said," Evan replied. " _No one_ goes in there."

"I bet we could force open the door," Mike said thoughtfully.

"Mike," Sammy said reproachfully.

"We need to go," Caleb said. Mike turned and they started walking and exploring.

* * *

 **Sammy**

Up till Wedding Day, life was boring. Life sucked.

Then, Wedding Day came.

Sammy was a Groomsman. He dressed in his small tuxedo, like "the cutest thing ever", as Cassie put it. Sammy thought he looked rather dignified.

The wedding staff was rather short, however, so Sammy had to be a groomsman for all three couples, as well as a flower girl for Lena.

That night, the wedding happened…

Sammy was exceedingly bored through the whole procedure, being groomsman and flower girl throughout _three sets of vows!_

"I do…"

"I do…"

"I do…"

"Do you, Evan Walker, take Cassie Sullivan as your wife?"

"I do!"

"Then the wedding is over, I guess," said the rather untalented Reverend.

"Don't I need to say 'I do'?" asked Cassie.

"You just said it."

"Uh-"

"Have a reception."

And so the reception began. With food, cake and such. Sammy wandered around, eating and drinking. All the elders were chilling over milk and such, and Sammy mostly followed his nose.

"Shall we drink wine?" asked Lena.

"You're not old enough to drink wine," Evan said. "But I am!" Evan immediately started chugging wine.

"Don't get drunk," Cassie said, trying and failing to be intimidating.

"Ya," said Marika, succeeding at being intimidating. Evan stopped chugging. Mike started laughing.

The evening was happy for cultured adults, but Sammy was bored most of the time. So, he was relieved when bedtime came.

Everyone returned to the Compartment (well, the girls went to the hospital) and they spent the night playing board games. Sammy ended up playing chess with Evan.

"I'm not as good as Marika," Evan said patiently after the fifth checkmate of his against Sammy. "So don't play her."

Sammy immediately checkmated Evan six times before Evan rage quitted.

Mike then attempted to defeat Sammy in Monopoly. Sammy got tired after his eighteenth victory and went to sleep.

* * *

 **Carter**

Carter watched on the cameras, monitoring the place, constantly switching between rooms. His eyes lingered on the wedding, and the door to the Restricted Area.

He had guards everywhere. Heavily equipped with guns, armor and ammo. All the technology of Area 51 was at his disposal, to keep the things in the Restricted Area imprisoned.

It would not get out. It would never get out.

Or they would all be dead.

* * *

 **Mike**

Thursday morning. Mike slowly climbed out of bed, dropping quietly to the floor. Mike had gained a proficiency in stealth over his journey, despite his weight (muscle weighs more than fat).

Breakfast was already there: porridge, fresh fruit, milk, and some other stuff. All matched for Mike's exact calorie requirements. He ate, then he left.

"Not so fast," a voice whispered from behind him. Mike turned to see Evan.

"What are you doing?" asked Mike.

"We should never travel alone in this place," Evan replied. "There's something wrong with it. I just don't know what it is."

"Maybe it's because of that sketchy Restricted Area," Mike said.

"Could be. All I know is that we should get out of here after everyone is ready."

"Yes," Mike replied. The two of them started walking around.

"Do you have this place relatively… um… figured out?" asked Mike.

"Mostly, how 'bout you?"

Mike smiled. "No. Getting close though."

Evan and Mike continued randomly pacing around, taking in the layout of Area 51, until about eleven o'clock. That was when Adisyn ran towards them.

"'Lo!" Adisyn called. She ran up to them. "Would you be interested in a performance at Friday night's Theatrical Performance?"

"There's a Theatrical Performance?" asked Mike.

"Yes, we _are_ civilized, here," Adisyn replied.

"Hmm. Oh well. I thought we were an overly industrialized colony that could afford no unproductive time."

"Is that a yes?" Adisyn asked.

Mike and Evan looked at one another. "So, do you wanna do a skit?" Mike asked Evan.

"Sure, it's something to do," said Evan. "Um… put us down for 'Upon My Return'."

"Okay!" Adisyn said happily. She dashed off.

Mike and Evan looked at each other. "I guess we'd better go rehearse."

* * *

 **Later That Night… Evan**

The Theatrical Performance was rather boring, throughout most of it. Mike and Evan knew that there skit would be the _best_ one.

"Next up, 'Upon My Return' with Mike French and Evan Walker."

"That's us!" Mike whispered. They walked onto stage amid half heated applause.

Evan was wearing royal robes, as if a King. He walked to sit in a chair (his throne). Mike was playing the part of the knight.

The skit started immediately after the applause ended.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: It is _time_ , my Lord. What shall I do with the others? Shall I slay them?

King Rochester Ester: Kill them all.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Much obliged. My Lord, may I ask you something?

King Rochester Ester: Twat?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Where?

King Rochester Ester: Where, twat?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: …I'm…not…sure.

King Rochester Ester: Not sure, twat?

 _(looking around in circles)_

Sir Walter Walter The Third: I do not see a twat. Where is the twat me Lord?

King Rochester Ester: Where?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: …That is what I thought you were asking me, Lord.

King Rochester Ester: Twat?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes.

King Rochester Ester: Twat?! I do not understand you.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: So, there is no…twat?

King Rochester Ester: Twat did you want to ask me?

 _(realizing that the King meant the word, What?)_

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Oh! Oh, that is what you, right, pardon my hearing me Lord. Twas wondering if you would be so kind as to permit me to stop in the town of WhiffleBerry for some Burger King.

King Rochester Ester: Burger King, you say?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes, my Lord, I say indeed I do.

King Rochester Ester: Twat? I did not know that there was a Burger King in WhiffleBerry.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes, yes there is me Lord.

King Rochester Ester: I order you to order me a whopper.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes, my Lord. I would be honored to bring you back a WHOPPER. Chicken fingers?

King Rochester Ester: Yes and a coke. Di'et. No ice.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes. Is that all me Lord?

King Rochester Ester: Fries. Another whopper. Double stack the meat. Remove the lettuce and tomato and hold the mayor. (beat) Was the owner granted permission to build a Burger King in WhiffleBerry?

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Only if he were in accordance with the law.

King Rochester Ester: I do not recall. Check. If not, after you order, bring me back the head of the owner.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Yes, me Lord.

King Rochester Ester: Go. Return before sunset.

Sir Walter Walter The Third: Good day to you. I will kill the wrong doers and be off to Burger King! I bid you goodbye, my Lord. _(barely able to contain himself)_ HECK YEAH, BOY! _(clears his throat)_ 'Scuse me my Lord, a tickle in mee throat. Upon my return!

Then Evan and Mike ran off the stage as quickly as they could, before they would die from all of the rotten tomatoes.

* * *

 **Elmer**

"That was terrible," Elmer complained.

"Worst skit I've ever seen," Sammy agreed.

"Nightmarish," Ben said.

"We should really go, quickly," Caleb decided, "before Sammy is permanently scarred."

"Ya," Ben said. Everyone left.

Soon, everyone made it back to the Compartment, and went to sleep.

* * *

 **Mike**

The rest of the week passed easily. On Monday, at last, work began.

Breakfast at six in the morning was unused to and somewhat triggering. Mike was highly tired when he arrived at farming.

"To farm," said the instructor, "you grab the hoe, then swipe down like _so!_ " The instructor swiped down as aggressively as he could with the hoe. "After you till the field," he continued, "you throw the seeds into the ground _as hard as you can!_ Then, you slam some water down onto the seeds _as hard as you can!_ "

Mike and the rest of the group progressed to actually training with the instructor's instructions on small farm plots. Mike was highly praised by the instructor, due to his ridiculous amount of strength. He was able to till, seed, and water four small plots in one minute, and was immediately sent to regular farm work.

Regular farm work was definitely easier than training. Now you might not think so, except for the fact that Mike was tilling _less_ land, due to the immense amounts of farm workers on the large field. And there were tractors, for less physically adept people to drive.

Mike tilled the field for five hours, becoming a little bit tired, before lunch.

After lunch, Mike went and stared at the Restricted Area sign for all of free time, then reported to the kitchen, where he was assigned to boil pork hotdogs for five hours straight. Now THAT was utterly boring, but Mike was happy when dinner was hotdogs and mashed potatoes (and some other stuff).

* * *

 **One Month Later…**

 **Mike**

One month of work. And Mike was tired of it.

He'd passed the door a million times, and always, always passed it by. But now, his curiosity was too intense.

The door marked with the words Restricted Area. And now he was going to find out what was in there.

So he busted down the door.

Mike stepped inside the dark room, looking around. The room was long, all the lights off.

Shelves lined the wall, packed with things. Mike ran his hands along the wall, knocking things to the floor. Then, he saw something that looked familiar.

"The Changer!" Mike said aloud. He reached out to grab it-

Something screeched. Mike turned a 180, his hand still inches from the Changer, and started scanning the darkness with his eyes.

The rectangle of light from the open door shone through the room, revealing the room. It was simply a long, metal hallway.

Mike shook his head. He must've been hallucinating. He turned back to the Changer, until he heard the screech again. He turned towards the door, to see a giant spider-looking thing running out the door.

Mike dropped the Changer and ran out the door, to see the spider quickly dashing down the hall.

"What the [censored] is that?" Mike asked himself, before chasing him.

He sprinted after the spider, running until even _he_ got tired. He stopped to pant for a moment, and while he was standing, the spider got away.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Mike said aloud. "I need to tell security."

Mike dashed towards the Security HQ.

* * *

 **Evan**

Evan was walking with Ben when the call came.

"'Lo," Evan said into the phone.  
"Mr. Walker, your wife is in labor."

Evan paused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Mr. Walker, your wife is in labor."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

"What is it?" asked Ben.

Evan turned towards him. "Cassie's having a baby… now."

"Oh!" Ben said in a surprised voice.

"I'll let you catch up," Evan said. He then took off at seventy miles per hour, heading for hospital as fast as he could.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike arrived at HQ, pounding on the door. "Let me in! Let me in, now!"

The door opened: Mike stumbled in to see Carter, Adisyn, two young doctors, and four guards.

"Carter!" Mike said in a relieved voice. "Thank God you're here!"

"What's going on?" Carter asked, turning to face Mike.

"Something's loose," Mike responded.

"What is it?" Carter asked frantically.

"I dunno, a spider thing," Mike said. "It got out of the Restricted Area."

A look of dread spread over Carter's face. He ran over to Mike, grabbing his shoulders.

"Did you open the Restricted Area?" Carter asked.

"Huh?" asked Mike dazedly.

"DID YOU OPEN THE RESTRICTED AREA?"

"Yes," Mike replied.

Carter backed away. "Take him down."

The guards suddenly pulled out tasers. Mike had no time to think before everything went black.

* * *

 **Carter**

Carter turned to the guards. "Vernon, Arthur. Take Mr. French here to the bridge. Marco and Jacques, find the spider. Kill it."

"Yes sir!" the guards said, before they started leaving.

"Wait!" Carter said quickly. The guards turned around.

"If the spider was attached to anyone's face…" Carter said ominously, "bring that person to me."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

 **Ben**

Ben caught up with Evan after a great deal of running. He arrived at the hospital wing, to discover that Evan was already in a room with Cassie. Ben stayed out of the room, and sat on a bench nervously.

Soon, Sammy arrived.

"Hey, Sams," said Ben.

"Hey, Ben," Sam replied.

"Do you know where everyone else is?" asked Ben.

"Last I checked, Mike was at the Restricted Area door, just staring at it," Sam said. "Caleb and Elmer are playing Chess at the Compartment."

"Right," Ben replied.

* * *

 **Carter**

Carter paced around the Security HQ for ten minutes, until the two guards returned with a severely shaken young latino man.

"We killed it," said the older guard. "It was attached to Dr. Rubio's face."

Carter sighed. "Adisyn, we need to get this man to surgery."

* * *

 **Ben**

Sammy and Ben sat for fifteen minutes, until they saw Carter and Adisyn wheeling a young doctor down the hall on a mobile bed.

They stopped in front of Ben and Sammy.

"Ben," Carter said urgently, "I need you to be on your guard. If you ever hear an alarm accompanied by yellow flashing lights, you _have_ to evacuate as many people from the hospital as possible. Sammy needs to leave, too."

"What's going on?" asked Sammy.

"Something bad is happening," Carter. "It might get loose if we don't act quickly."

Then, before anyone could say anything, Carter and Adisyn started wheeling the doctor away at top speed.

* * *

 **Carter**

"Quick, quick, quick," Carter muttered as they moved Rubio into the operating room. "Get me the scalpel, now."

Adisyn grabbed the scalpel and put it in Carter's hand. Carter turned back to Rubio… to see him seizing up.

Every muscle in Rubio's body was flexing, his mouth and eyes were open.

"God[censored]it," Carter said.

"Run?" Adisyn asked.

"Run," Carter confirmed.

Both of them ran out the door, slamming it shut and electrically locking it from the outside.

"Adisyn, head up to the Main Evacuation Hall. Get everyone who can't fight to the emergency shelters. The rest should arm themselves."

Adisyn nodded, and started sprinting up a stairwell. Carter pulled out a remote and thumbed the button labeled Pocket Protocol.

* * *

 **Ben**

The alarm sounded, and yellow light started flashing. Ben and Sam both jumped to their feet.

A voice came on the speakers: "Initiating Pocket Protocol. All civilians should proceed to the Main Evacuation Hall for evacuation or armament."

Ben grabbed Sammy's shoulders. "Sam, _go to the Main Evacuation Hall!"_

"I wanna help!"

"That's an order!" Ben said. Sammy bowed his head and ran off.

Ben ran to the door where Cassie and Evan were and started knocking.

"Something's loose!" he yelled. "We need to get out of here!"

He heard Evan's muffled voice. "We aren't leaving! That would be awkward!"

"Then you, Evan," said Ben. "Get out here! If something comes this way, we're gonna need to fend it off."

The door opened and Evan stepped out. "With what? We need guns."

Ben thought for a moment. "They said that some people would get weapons at the Main Evacuation Hall…"

"I'll go," said Evan. "I'm faster." Then, he took off towards the Main Evacuation Hall.

* * *

 **Adisyn**

Guard HQ was nearly empty. The guards were probably out in the complex, fulfilling Pocket Protocol. In Pocket Protocol, non-combatant civilians would be evacuated and the rest would be armed. The guards would work in teams of two-four, manning intersections to keep _things_ from getting anywhere…

Meanwhile, a detachment of guards would go to any sketchy areas, to eliminate the threats. With flamethrowers.

Adisyn turned and walked to the Security HQ.

* * *

 **Ben**

Evan returned after five minutes, carrying two FAMAS assault rifles. He tossed one to Ben, who caught it. The rifle had a red dot scope mounted on the shaft and a short range flamethrower on the bottom of the barrel.

As Ben examined his new toy, a herd of guards ran past, carrying flamethrowers.

"Something's happening," said Evan. "We need to protect this room."

Ben and Evan kneeled, back to back, facing opposite directions down the corridor, rifles up.

* * *

 **Carter**

Carter was viewing the large panel, covered with camera screens, following the guards heading to the surgical room.

Arriving at the room. The guards set up a phalanx-style formation, with a front row of five kneeling, the rest standing up. The row directly behind the front row prepared flamethrowers, facing forwards. The row in front of them, kneeling, held hoses for whatever reason. The third row held extra gas canisters. The final row possessed buckets of gas canisters, to quickly reload the flamers.

One volunteer guard ran towards the door, pounding on it, and running. He rejoined the final line. A couple minutes later, a large pound resonated from the other side of the door.

The guards stiffened, as more thumps followed.

The door burst off its hinges at three o'clock.

Immediately, flames burst from the various flamethrowers towards the door, in a steady stream of fire. Everything in that area was incinerated. Immediately, guards in the front row turned on their hoses, dousing the fire.

There was nothing, when the smoke cleared. The guards sighed in relief and lowered their flamers.

Then, four black shapes dashed out of the room. Insectoid, but reptilian. Tall, with a long tail. The guards yelled, lifting their flamethrowers to load them. But it was too late. Hordes of _things_ dashed out, tearing the guards to pieces in droves.

Carter looked away from the camera as they swarmed down the three corridors.

He picked up his radio. "Adisyn, do you copy?"

"I copy."

"How's evac going?"

"I'd say sixty percent of the civilian population has been either armed or evacuated, and about eighty-five percent are here in the hall."

"They escaped."

Pause. "No. No way."

"It's true. The xenomorphs have broken out. They've swarmed. We're screwed."  
"I'll hurry."

Carter pocketed his radio and walked to a closet. He opened it to reveal two P90s. He grabbed both of them, sliding in clips, and walking out the door.

* * *

 **Adisyn**

"Throw me a gun!" Adisyn yelled to one of the guards at the Magazine. The guard threw her a tricked-out FAMAS.

She funneled people through the two doors at double the normal speed, occasionally glancing at cams. People were still running for the Evac Hall.  
Finally, the last person in line was through. Adisyn closed the door to the Magazine, putting a sign directing all other civilians to leave through the open door. She then raised the FAMAS and walked down the hall to battle.

* * *

 **Ben**

Ben could hear the sounds of screeching and running footsteps towards him.

"Evan, something's coming from my side!" he yelled.

"Right!" Evan replied, turning around.

From the depths of the hall, Ben saw a cloud of black reptilian creatures swarming towards them.

"On my mark," said Evan. Three seconds later; "Mark!"

Ben pulled the trigger, releasing three bullets towards the swarm. He pulled again, and again. _Pop-pop-pop. Pop-pop-pop._ And the swarm just barely decreased.

"When they get closer," Evan yelled, "use the flamethrower."

Ben nodded. The horde ever approached.

"NOW!" Evan cried. Ben thumbed the secondary trigger, releasing a white-hot jet of flame. Evan did the same.

And now the horde began diminishing. The flames cut swathes through the swarm, but they continued to move forward. Ben started firing his rifle and flamethrower at the same time.

"What do we do?" asked Ben.

"Keep firing!" Evan yelled.

The situation was hopeless. The beasts would be on top of them at any moment.

"Drop!" a voice yelled. Instinctively, Ben hit the floor, to hear the sounds of two fully automatic weapons firing. Ben looked up, to see Carter blasting away with two P90s, full tilt.

The horde was gone by the time Ben looked back.

* * *

 **Lena**

Lena, Marika, Sammy, and a large group of olds, youngs, and sicks flocked towards surface warehouses, surrounded by guards. They were the group labeled Unable to Fight, against whoever and for whatever reason.

Everyone was shuttled into the warehouses, a little bit packed together.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" asked Lena.

"No," said Marika. "They're dead."

"Why do you say that?" asked Lena.

"Because I'm a pessimist," said Marika. "I actually think we should try to save them."

"How?" Lena asked.

"I dunno," Marika replied. "You're smarter than me."

"Hmmm…" Lena though for a moment. "Isn't this place for testing experimental aircraft?"

"Yes…" Marika confirmed.

"Then, there must be a hangar," Lena replied.

"True," Marika confirmed.

"We should ask someone where it is," Lena suggested. Marika nodded, and they walked toward and older guy.

"Hello," said Lena. "My name is Lena, this is Marika, and we were wondering about the Area 51 hangar."

"During the Third Wave," the old guy said, "we sent up our experimental planes to try and take out the Mothership. Soon, the aliens dropped a rod on the hangar. We lost all of our planes."

"Where is it?" asked Marika.

"Over yonder," the old guy said, and pointed north. So that's where Lena and Marika headed.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike was barely in prison for twenty minutes before an alarm sounded. Mike was released, along with other prisoners, and instructed to report to the Main Evac Hall. Mike followed the wave of prisoners that way.

When he reached the entrance hall, he was funneled down a hall to The Magazine, a room lined with weapons. He and the other prisoners were given FAMAS assault rifles and extra clips, and told to fight anything not human.

Mike took the weapon and started patrolling. He knew there must have been some sort of breakout, caused by his opening of the Restricted Area.

The Restricted Area! Mike remembered the Changer that he had dropped in the locked room. He immediately started heading that way.

When he pulled around the corner, however, he was met with an unwelcome sight.

The creature was around eight feet tall. It had long, arms, ending in sharp claws, black scales in a sort of exoskeleton, an elongated head ending in a mouth of teeth shut tight.

Mike swiveled his FAMAS towards it, releasing three bursts from the weapon. The creature took the brunt of the bullets, and it made a strange whistling noise before charging at Mike.

Mike grabbed the charging creature by it's head, lifting it up into the ceiling with all his strength. The thing in his hands exploded on the ceiling, and Mike dropped it's body on the floor.

* * *

 **Evan**

"They're called Xenomorphs," Carter said. "Hive creatures capable of limited independent thinking, utterly reliant on their queen to lay eggs and control them. Extremely durable. Vulnerable to fire."

"Okay," said Ben. "Why are they here?"

"Your friend Mike," Carter replied. "He opened the door of the Restricted Area. One of them escaped."

" _Mike_ did that?" Evan said incredulously. "No. He would never put us in danger."

"I don't believe he tried to put you in danger," Carter replied. "I believe he was an idiot who let curiosity get the better of him. We had him moved to the Confidential Penitentiary, but he and all the prisoners were either evaced or sent out to fight."

"Mike's fighting," said Ben. "I know good ol' Meatbag."

"Why is he Meatbag?" asked Carter.

"Old nickname," Ben replied.

"I see," Carter said again.

* * *

 **Lena**

Marika led Lena up the hill, walking towards the utterly abandoned and totally destroyed hangar.

"I don't think…" Marika started saying.

"Don't say it," Lena said. "There's something up there. I can feel it."

Marika sighed. Lena and Marika finally stopped in front of the hangar.

"Pick your way through the rubble," said Lena. She started climbing through the smashed concrete building, through a small maze of crushed rock. Marika followed.

Soon enough, Lena located a doorway leading into a less-damaged hall. "Marika!" she yelled. "Found it!"

Lena heard the sounds of Marika crawling towards her. Soon, she popped out and they stepped into the hallway.

It stretched down for another twenty meters in both directions. Directly in front of the two girls was a large door, and down the halls were several high-security lockers. Most of them were broken, and the contents destroyed, except one locker, which was just standing open.

"Check the big door," Lena said. Marika nodded and went that way.

Meanwhile, Lena went to check the open locker. Inside was… a room? Lena walked through the door into the room, to see racks and racks and racks of _guns,_ lots of guns _._

They were a bit more advanced than the FAMAS rifles that were being handed out to some people in the Main Evac Hall. The guns had two barrels stacked, iron sights, and were kind of small. When Lena thought about it, she realized it looked a bit like a Tommy Gun. There was a logbook with _M41AE2 Heavy Pulse Rifle_ written on the front.

"Lena," Marika said from the doorway. Lena turned around. "The large room is full of cars."

"Cars?" asked Lena. "That's useful. We can use those to go to… I think Ben said Marble Falls…"

"Yes, Marble Falls," Marika replied. "What are these guns?"

"I dunno," said Lena. "Experimental. I think we should try to get these to the main compound."

"How?" asked Marika incredulously. "We can barely carry three rifles. We need to take, like sixty? Plus, there's the whole mess of concrete outside that we won't be able to navigate with guns."

"Cars," Lena replied.

A look of comprehension appeared on Marika's face.

* * *

 **Ben**

"We need to make a trip to the Magazine to pick up more ammo," Carter decided. "We can't all go and leave the place undefended."

"Evan should go," Ben said. "He's ridiculously fast."

"Ben's right, but I am highly unwilling to leave…" Evan replied.

"GO!" Carter and Ben yelled at the same time.

"Okay, okay, I'm going!" Evan said. He took off.

Ben and Carter sat in silence for a moment.

"Hey, Carter," Ben said. "How long has it been since things happened?"

"Oh… about an hour," Carter replied.

"So, we're gonna have to wait for _seven additional hours_?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Yes," Carter replied.

"Why don't they just to a cesarean section?" asked Ben.

"Because labor already started, and we can't to a cesarean section in the middle of a birth," Carter answered.

"Oy," Ben said frustratedly. He ejected the FAMAS clip and put it back in, just for fun.

* * *

 **Lena**

Marika gassed up a wrecking ball crane and several forklifts. In the meantime, Lena put as many of the Pulse Rifles in boxes and started to load them onto the forklifts.

Marika started running the wrecking ball, smashing through the rubble to clear a path for the three forklifts. Lena finished loading up the Pulse Rifles, and Marika finalized her decimation. Marika jumped in the second forklift and Lena attached the third to the back of her vehicle. They drove out of the remains of the hangar.

"Take them to the compound!" Marika yelled. They drove the forklifts over to the entrance.

"Open the door!" Lena yelled. A guard came and opened the door.

"What is it?" he asked grumpily.

"Help us get these weapons inside!" Lena said. We should be able to fight better with them!"

* * *

 **Sammy**

Sammy hadn't left like Ben told him. Instead, he had hidden away in the Magazine.

* * *

 **Mike**

The alien's blood seemed to fall in slow motion towards him. He looked up, and it hit him square in the face.

Mike yelled in pain, as the acidic blood started corroding his face. He dropped on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Get it off!" he yelled. He wiped his face with his hands, but that only succeeded in getting acid on his hands.

Mike realized what he had to do. He got up and started running towards the Restricted Area. He threw open the door and dived at the Changer, which was laying on the ground.

Mike grabbed it with his acid-covered hands, and acid started eating away at the Changer. He wrenched off the bottom of the Changer to check and see if there was a battery. There was.

"GET THIS [censored] ACID OUT OF HERE!" he yelled into the Changer.

Just like that, the acid disappeared. Mike dropped the Changer and layed down on his back, panting.

* * *

 **Elmer**

Elmer stopped fighting when he heard the message on the intercom.

"All combatants, please report to the Main Evacuation Hall for rearmament."

" _Re_ armament?" Caleb asked. "Why do we need _re_ armament? I like my FAMAS."

"They probably found some new gun," Elmer replied. Caleb and Elmer turned and started running for the Main Evac Hall.

* * *

 **Carter**

Evan returned carrying several clips of ammo and… new guns?

"They gave me these," Evan said, dropping three rifles on the ground. "They're called Heavy Pulse Rifles."

"Interesting…?" Ben replied. He picked up the weapon, turning it over and over in his hands.

"Oh!" Carter said. He picked up his gun. "These things… I thought I saw something about them in the Base Catalogue. They were building these things."

"Hmm," Ben grunted.

"I'm gonna go see what Adisyn knows," Carter said. He pulled out a walkie talkie and called Adisyn.

"Hey," Adisyn said.

"Hey," Carter replied. "What's our situation?"

"It looks like the Xenomorphs have chilled out a bit. They aren't attacking anymore."

"What are they doing?" Carter asked.

"They're disappearing into multiple vent shafts. I can see them crawling to the central power grid. Some of them are passing you."

As if on cue, Carter heard the sounds of large things crawling through the walls around him.

"We're recalling all personnel to the Mess Hall to regroup and set up a plan to get on the offensive."

"We can't leave for several hours," Carter replied. "We'll stay here."

"Why?"

"There's a woman having a child in the room behind us, and we can't leave her unprotected," Carter replied.

"What if they just come through the vents _into_ the room?" Adisyn asked.

"If you don't recall, birthing rooms have independent ventilation systems, so we won't be able to hear noises through the ventilation shafts," Carter replied. "Nothing should be able to get in there."

"Right," Adisyn replied. "Just… hold out there. Don't leave until we can evac the mother and child."

"Sure," Carter replied. He turned off the radio.

* * *

 **Mike**

Everyone was grouped in the Mess Hall, packed together and carrying brand new Pulse Rifles. Adisyn had moved in the front to provide information.

"The Xenomorphs have withdrawn to their hive, but only temporarily," Adisyn announced impressively. "We believe that they are mobilizing for a major attack to wipe all of out. The only way for us to defeat them is to attack when they are unprepared, when they are not expecting us."

Adisyn snapped her fingers, and a large map unfurled from the ceiling. It showed a criss-crossing maze of tunnels.

"This," Adisyn said, "is the Area 51 Ventilation Map. The Xenomorphs have been using it to get around, and they've created a hive at its very center. We need to fight our way to that hive and kill their queen. If their queen dies, they will lose coordination, and we will be able to fight them off, one by one."

"But how do we reach the center of the ventilation system?" asked a random person with a pulse rifle.

"We know that the center of the ventilation system is the Main Power Grid," Adisyn replied, "which means we need to pass through maintenance to reach the center. Once we're there, we'll be fighting a huge horde, so we can't afford to be bunched up in one corridor when they attack. Instead, we'll have to enter from multiple entrances, then stealthily fan out around the hive. When I give a signal, we will all rise up and kill _everything_ in sight."

"I'd like to offer an alternative," Mike said. The sea of people parted to allow Mike to walk to the front, clutching the Changer.

"What is it?" asked Adisyn, referring to the plan, not the Changer.

"We can use this item," said Mike, "to make things."

The crowd began muttering confusedly.

"I'll need a battery," Mike finished. Adisyn fumbled in her pocket, and pulled out a battery. She passed it to Mike. Mike put it into the Changer.

"Now, I understand that our batteries our precious," Mike continued, "so I will only use one." He then turned his mouth to the Changer and whispered, "I need a weaponized exoskeleton."

And so it was. A large suit of armor appeared. The suit carried on it's shoulders a flamethrower and a rocket, and there was a shotgun mounted above the suit's left wrist. The right hand was reinforced and seemed to have a thermometer on it. The vehicle itself was iron gray and made of several overlapping plates. It was a bit shorter than eight feet tall, putting it relatively close to the size of a Xenomorph.

"We can use one of these to lead the Xenomorphs to one location where they'll be tightly concentrated away from the Queen. Then, once the Queen is exposed, everyone attacks with their full force. Meanwhile, the person in the suit can blast the tightly concentrated Xenomorphs with the rocket, hopefully taking out most, if not all, of the Xenomorphs."

There was total silence.

"Now, uh…" said Mike, "who wants to drive the suit?"

"I do!" yelled Sammy. Sammy burst out of the crowd, running to the front.

"Sammy!" Elmer yelled in response, dashing to the stage, followed by Caleb.

"What are you doing here?" asked Caleb.

"You should've left!" Elmer added.

"You can't fight!" Caleb continued.

"No way!" Elmer resumed.

"I think he can do it," Mike interrupted. Elmer, Caleb, and Sammy all turned to look at him.

"Really?" Caleb said in a surprised voice.

"Ya," Mike replied confidently. "Sammy's a hard[censored], and he deserves a chance to hit aliens, hard. I mean, he can't exactly fight well without assistance, but with this, he could do most things."

"Hmm…" Elmer said thoughtfully.

"It _does_ look pretty formidable…" Caleb speculated.

"C'mon, Sam, get in there and show them what you can do," Mike said encouragingly.

Sam walked over to the vehicle tentatively. Immediately, the front chestplate opened and a staircase opened and unfolded to allow Sammy passage to the cockpit. Sammy climbed in and buckled his seatbelt, which caused the staircase to fold back into the mech and the chestplate to close.

The mech powered on: lights flashed into exist, accompanied by a whirring noise. It stood still for a moment before it's arms started moving. It took a step, then another, then started slowly running. Soon, it turned around, and the temperature on the thermometer started rapidly increasing. The right fist turned red hot, then Sammy swung it and blasted out a section of the metal wall.

"Woah!" Caleb exclaimed.

"We can't waste any of our fighters piloting the mech," said Mike, "so how about we use someone who _can't_ fight without the mech!"

Everyone cheered.

* * *

 **Ben, Seven Hours Later**

Ben, Evan, and Carter had been sitting for _ever_ so long, but they were totally undisturbed. They had spent the time eating, playing cards, having conversations, and studying for the final math exam that Ben never got to take.

At one point, Evan asked a significant question.

"Hey, Ben," Evan asked. "You got enhanced, too. Why are you so [censored] slow?"

"Oh, that," Ben replied. "Ya. Thanks for reminding me."

"Your welcome," Evan said.

"I think I just, kinda, forgot I was enhanced," Ben surmised. "So, I lost my abilities."

"You _forgot_?" Evan said confusedly.

"Ya," Ben confirmed. "I guess now that I remember, I'll be a beast again."

But then, the doctor came out and said that Cassie was done.

"We need to leave," Carter said urgently. The doctors wheeled out a tired-looking Cassie on a bed, with a brand-new baby.

"Oh!" Evan exclaimed.

Ben and Carter both turned around and booked it. It felt so _good_ to be up and running. Carter and Ben ran around and around and around and around whooping with excitement, while Evan, Cassie, and the doctors headed up to the safety place.

Finally, Ben and Carter got tired of running around.

"We should go find out what we're supposed to do," Ben said.

"Ya," Carter agreed, panting.

* * *

 **Sammy**

The voice of Adisyn came on the loudspeaker.

"Citizens of Area 51," she called, "carry out Operation Rufflestomp."

There was an immediate flurry of action as everyone started loading their weapons and finishing up their cleaning and such. Soon, troops were being organized into files, then into platoons, to attack the Xenomorphs.

People moved out, heading into a maintenance shaft. However, Sammy went the opposite direction, to distract the Xenos. He entered the main hall, the large Access Shaft, to enter the hive from the West, as opposed to the East.

Sammy didn't feel clumsy at all, inside the suit. Mike helped Sammy get used to the controls and prepare for the operation.

"So, you can heat up the fist, click _this_ button to launch the rocket, _this_ button to fire the shotgun, _this_ button to lock armor, _these_ joysticks to move arms around, and _these_ pedals to move the legs," Mike said, while they were getting ready.

"Um, sure," Sammy replied easily.

Now, Sammy was piloting the mech easily. He kept walking through the Access Shaft. As he crawled through the shaft, he started to hear noises: shrieking noises, scuttling, clawing…

* * *

 **Marika**

" _Why,_ are you coming with us?" asked Ben incredulously.

"I'm your best shot with a rifle," Marika replied casually. "And I was bored."

"But, what if _stuff_ goes down?" Ben asked.

"Look," Marika replied, "I understand why you're worried. I'll be okay. Our group will probably not get in any real action, anyway. That's Sammy's job."

"Hey, Ben," Mike said, interrupting. "Do you know where Evan is?"  
"Ya," Ben replied. "He's with Cassie and their new daughter."

"Ooh, it was a _girl_?" Marika chimed (she CHIMED. GOTCHA AGAIN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!). "What's her name?"

"Why isn't Evan with _us_?" Mike asked incredulously. "He's our best fighter."

"Because his wife just had a baby," Ben replied. "Have some _sense,_ Mike."

"If _Lena_ had been the one with the baby, I still would've come," Mike remarked.

"How rude," Lena said, joining in, as everyone started marching down the shaft.

"Oh, um…" Mike fumbled, "I didn't know you were here…"

Everyone started laughing. Good times.

* * *

 **Sammy**

Sammy arrived at the Access Shaft exit. He poked his head out of the thingy.

The room was covered in a voracious black substance that coated everything. Milling about the room were Xenomorphs and strange spider-like creatures. In the center of the room was a Xenomorph, but it was attached to a giant tube. It must be the Queen. Sammy prepared himself by running a Systems Diagnostic using the exoskeletons built-in computer system. All systems were online. Sammy waited.

After a few minutes, his radio crackled and Carter's voice came online.

"We're ready," he said. "Launch your attack."

Sammy nodded, then realized that Carter couldn't see him. "Sure," he replied lamely.

Sammy swung himself out of the access shaft, standing up to his full height. As the Xenomorphs turned towards Sammy, he quickly accessed the internet and started playing _Skrillex: Rock N' Roll_. He lifted his arms, pumping his shotgun and heating his fist as the swarm charged toward him.

* * *

 **Mike**

Mike, who was at the front of the line, poked his head out of the shaft. He looked around, to see Xenomorphs turning towards something.

Suddenly, a familiar beat drop started playing. Mike turned to the source of the noise: Sammy. He was standing, weapons ready, surrounded by a massive swarm of Xenomorphs. They were charging him. Sammy did the Hitler salute and yelled out the normal phrase (refusing to type it). Mike did a double take.

"Is he a Neo-Nazi?" Lena asked from behind Mike.

"Um," Mike replied in a confused voice. "I don't care. He's about to kick all the Xenomorphs' [censored]es."

* * *

 **Sammy**

Sammy fired his shotgun in quick succession, blasting Xenomorph after Xenomorph to pieces. His right hand, meanwhile, was plowing through multiple aliens at a time. An alien climbed up his back: Sammy activated the giant barbs on his suit. Superheated spikes shot out, cutting through the beast.

Surrounding Xenos were incinerated by the burning wave, as the barbs flew out and soared across the room. Sammy charged into a massive crowd, swinging his fist and destroying all of them in one blow.

Sammy turned and saw that he had barely destroyed a tenth of the horde: the rest were charging towards him. Sammy sighed and switched to Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

"YEEEEEEEEEEET!" Sammy yelled, launching off several rockets. They 'sploded, blasting apart Xenos by the thousands. Guts, acid, and limbs flew everywhere.

The aliens were completely disorganized and decimated. The few remaining beasts fell back to protect the Queen. Sammy smiled in a satisfied way.

* * *

 **Ben**

Everyone had spread out around the room, silently, while Sammy smashed through the creatures. When they were all dead, Ben and the rest stood with the Pulse Rifles, preparing to fire on the Queen. Carter would give the word when it was time to fire.

Ben saw something, however: Sammy was charging toward the queen, firing his shotgun. The queen jumped down from her tube, landing on Sammy and ripping into his exoskeleton. Sammy's music slowly died.

"NO NO NO NOOOOO!" Carter yelled through the mic. "Shoot! Shoot!"

Everyone stood up, blasting at the Queen and the few remaining Xenos. It didn't take long, before the Queen and all the remaining Xenomorphs were dead.

"Yes!" everyone cheered. "Hooray!"

* * *

 **Two Months Later, Mike**

Mike led the way out of Area 51, using cars provided by Carter. They were accompanied by Adisyn, who had decided to come hunt Red Pills with them, while Carter stayed to run Area 51.

Cassie and Evan had named their daughter Lauren, apparently after Evan's previous girlfriend. Lena and Mike's was a boy named John, and Marika and Ben parented James.

Carter planned to research Red Pills and build a bunch for his colony, so they could all escape later.

Zhantov returned to the Matrix using one of the phones at the request of Mike, to retrieve the Changer. He told Mike that the acid burns had destabilized the device, and that it could only be used one or two more times before it breaks.

Mike was going to be imprisoned in Area 51, but Sammy managed to negotiate his release (he sacrificed an honorary Distinguished Service Cross to get that favor). All in all, Area 51 was a nice place to visit, but no one would ever want to live there.


	19. Ah yes

After that mess at Area 51, the TAAO Gang finally got on it's way. After taking a close look at the working vehicles they had, they chose wisely. They took an RV, for Sammy, Cassie and Lena, Ben driving. Caleb insisted so strongly, so they ended up getting the chaingun truck as well. Evan just hooked the chaingun turret on to it, and it looked sick. Evan drove, Mike was in the passenger seat, and Elmer manned the turret. The three babies were with Cassie and them in the RV, because Cassie. The last car, was a 2017, Ford GT. It went the fastest, so the TAAO Gang used it for scouting ahead of everything. Caleb drove, Adisyn in the passenger seat, and Marika hanging on to back with little handle thingeys. All considered, Elmer didn't really think that was a very smart idea. Anyway, back at Area 51, he had gotten a new outfit. Gray camo, with elbow and knee pads, army boots, and ammo belts. A nice belt of shotgun shells, he had one slung over his back, as a close range weapon, and for when his revolvers were out of ammo.

Caleb's car drove up next to them.

"We're gonna go scout ahead," Caleb told Evan.

"How far will you be, we need to stay in contact?" He yelled back over the roar of the engines.

"Bout a few miles ahead, Channel 12 on your walkie talkie, got it?" Caleb asked.

"Right," Adisyn told him, waving her Walkie talkie in the air. And they drove off, they just hope that nothing bad would happen to them. Elmer thought twice, knowing that Marika was an adult, she would keep them in line. And after the loss of his brother, Elmer couldn't lose Caleb, he was all he had left.

* * *

The speedy GT took off fast along the desert. Caleb felt quite confident in himself driving, even though he was only about fourteen. He knew all the controls well, and how to work the AC. Him and Adisyn sighed in pleasure as he turned the AC on, and the cold air comforted them. Marika however, kept cursing Caleb and Adisyn, as she was inhaling dirt and sand, trying to scout for anything dangerous. She had on a tactical black vest, and a pair of binoculars strapped to her chest. As an added bonus, they could work as night vision goggles as well. A knife on her leg, many clips on her vest, a 45 Longslide, with a laser sight, on her other leg. A Glock 43 on her vest, it was small, so it worked well. On her tactical belt, she had some shotgun shells, and a Desert Eagle, which looked bad #$, She would say. Caleb was a little underdressed, with a Franchi Spas 12, jeans, and a jean jacket. Adisyn had a soldiers cap and vest, along with pink cargo pants (they didn't mix well). Loaded in the car, were a few other firearms, including a grenade launcher and a whole mess of pistols, Berettas, Glocks, and a bunch more. They drove silently for a few miles, and soon, they couldn't see the rest of the gang any longer.

"How fast can this thing go?" Adiyn asked Caleb.

"Dunno, regular max speed should be around two-hundred miles per hour, but I think Carter told us he improved everything on this car."

"Even the speed?" she asked him.

"Alright, let's see how fast this thing can go!" Caleb said without hesitation. He hit the gas, and the Ford lit the ground up with an unmatched fury. The went from one-hundred twenty miles per hour, to three-hundred, in fifteen seconds! It was clear, but not to them, that Marika was not having a fantastic time. She continually hit the back window and cursed him and her.

" #& %! You *#!%$!s!" Marika yelled at them. But with the fly of the dirt, and the sound of the engine, all they heard was the cheer of their own voices.

"Ok, that's enough fun, let's see how Marika's holding up," Caleb told Adisyn, and he put the car to a stop. Adisyn asked a question as they were getting out of the car.

"How far do you think we traveled?" she asked him.

"Maybe one-hundred miles or more, walkie talkies are for sure out of range."

"That's not good what if something happens?"

"Well I'll send them our coordinates." he checked the map on the car, and sent Evan the coordinates.

Marika fell out of the back. She was covered in dust, and her hair was a total mess.

"Oooh, sorry Marika, we forgot you were back there," Allison said.

"Yeah right!" She said, and continued to get sand out of her clothes and hair. "Where the #%! are we anyway?"

"We don't know, we've traveled at least one-hundred miles or so," Caleb stated.

"Ya think, just look at me, why would you go that fast, when you know I'm outside, with no AC, and all the dust flying at me!"

"Well, to be fair, it was all Adisyn's idea," he said.

"What no it wasn't!" and she hit him with her elbow.

"Let's just get back to where we were, obviously nothing was engaging us," Marika.

"Sounds good to me," he said. For if they had been looking closer, they would've spotted the cars moving in on their position.

As they started driving, at a slow speed, Marika noticed something coming up behind them. She could barely make it out, but it appeared to be some kind of moving vehicles. As they got closer to them, she could make the shapes out. 1 was some sort of sports car, another looked like a volkswagen beetle, and the 2 other were motorcycles. They did not look like normal vehicles though. You probably couldn't buy these anywhere, they obviously had made modifications. They had massive engines, spiked wheels, and skulls all over them. Marika tried to yell to Caleb and Allison, but the roar of the engines was to loud. She tried everything, and the cars were almost on top of them. Eventually, it came down to Marika breaking the glass. Using the butt of her gun, and continually hit the rear window until it broke.

"What the #$ ! did you do that for!" Caleb yelled at her.

"Look behind you!" Marika told them.

Caleb and Adisyn looked, and their eyes bulged out. Marika noticed something about the men as well. They were all painted a white color, and most had black around the eyes.

"Hit the gas!" Marika told Caleb, but it was too late. Caleb put his foot to the medal, but one of the men threw an explosive spear at the back. Both rear wheels blew, and some of the fender had exploded. Caleb continued to hit the gas, but with two wheels destroyed, the maximum speed was only one-hundred.

"They took out both wheels!" Marika yelled back, grabbing the grenade launcher. She fired two shots, and both landed on the motorcycle, exploding into bits. Before she could launch another, they fired two more spears into the car. Marika fell off the car, and emptied the clip on the launcher, but only damaged the cars. She used her pistols, for two kills. She ran up to the fallen men, and got a closer look, but not before an arrow pierced her neck, and she fell down.

Meanwhile, Caleb and Adisyn were trying to fend of the others. He was a skilled driver, but these guys were top notch. They swerved around the Ford, crashing into it. Allison continually fired the shotgun and pistols, while Caleb tried to keep control. The sports car got in front of them, and the guy on the back, fired a spear right on the bottom front. The car flipped twice before coming to a stop. The other cars stopped, and walked towards them.

"Let's use em' for blood eh'?" one said.

"Good idea, we'll tow this car and take all the guzzoline we can carry!" said another.

"And them?"

"We'll tow them on their legs, and go see if the one you shot is still alive."

Caleb didn't like the sound of this, but while they were talking, he had enough time to send a message to Evan, he just hoped it would reach him in time.

* * *

Evan, in the Warthog, had led the gang for more than 2 hours, heading to Caleb's coordinates. He hoped to meet them there, and wanted another message from him. On the bright side, this thing was easy to drive. There was a shift, break, windshield wipers, and a steering wheel. Not to mention the giant turret on the top. They got to the correct coordinates, but nobody saw the Ford GT, and it wouldn't be that hard to miss. After driving a little farther, Elmer spotted things that looked like bodies in the sand.

"Stop Evan, we need to check this out," Elmer told him.

Evan stopped, and went to talk to Ben.

"Ben, how goes things?" he asked him.

"Fine, everyone is fine, no signs of danger or trouble, yet," he replied. "Why are we stopping?"

"Elmer saw some bodies, we're just going to check them out, won't be long."

Him and Elmer went to see. The two men had black ink around their eyes, and one had black on his forehead. They both had several tattoos, and, the scary part, both had a flaming skull mark on their necks.

"What do you make of it Evan?"

"I'm not sure, but whoever they were, I think that Caleb, Ringer, and Allison engaged them."

"Are you sure they're dead?"

"Yes, neither are moving, and neither has a pulse."

"Well, let's leave them here, and get back on the road."

That's when Evan got a recording walkie-talkie message (Area 51 science), from Caleb.

 _Been taken hostage, big car fight, look out for skull cars, come rescue us, place called the Citadel, heading west._

"That's the opposite direction that we need to go though!" Elmer said.

"Yes, but don't have a choice, let's get back, and tell everyone the news."

"Ben!" Elmer yelled over to his RV.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"We need to head west, it's out of our way, but in a place called the Citadel, the other three are being held hostage!"

"Alright then, we'd better hurry, and I'll wave a white flag while we approach."

"Good, stay behind us, and keep in transmission with your walkie talkie."

Elmer went back to his post and got on the gun. It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Mike got hungry once, so Lena made him a sandwich, then they stopped, she got out, and gave it to him. They didn't get into any trouble, except that one time. Sammy had half his body out a window, and he hit a cactus. He went right out the window, and stuck to it. No one noticed though, until Cassie called him. They retraced their tracks, and found him struggling to get off the cactus. Mike and Evan got him off, and Cassie started to scold him for going out the window. Ben thought he would cry, but he was much, much, more angry than sad. He kept going on and on about how they left him, and Lena finally gave him a big chocolate milk to shut him up. After staying on the road for five hours, they finally reached where they wanted.

"There it is!" Elmer yelled.

"How do you know!" Mike yelled back.

"It had a giant flaming skull on it, just like those dead guys!"

"Okay, I'll tell Ben," Evan said. He got out his walkie talkie. "Ben, follow me, and wave the white flag." Evan only supposed he heard him, because the other one was broken. He knew he did, because Mike pointed out that Sammy was waving a white t-shirt stuck to a stick. Which was enough, because a bridge thing lowered down, and the two trucks got on to it.

"I'll take Elmer and Ben with me, three should be enough, we only need our friends, and the car back," Evan told them.

The reached the top, and the three got out. They walked toward the closet guy.

"Immortan Joe must see you!" one said.

"Who is that?" Ben asked.

"And who said we wanted to see him!" Elmer said.

"You don't really have a choice, we could blow your cars right off the cliff!"

"Fine, take us to him," Evan said.

They followed the guy, and two others, through the pathways. Some had water in them, and some were repairing cars. Evan spotted them fixing a car that looked like the Ford GT. Evan wanted it back, and would definitely speak his mind to this Immortan Joe.

They got there, and Evan saw four men, at least he thought one was a man. One was big and muscular, and had some kind of mouth thing, and a backpack of some sort. The other had silver black ink on his forehead, with no shirt (none of them did) and a spear in his hand. The other man-like thing was really small, and in a seat with telescopes. The fourth man turned around. He had long white hair and wrinkled skin, which probably meant he was old. On his chest, was a breastplate made in the shape of pecs and eight pack abs, and on it, lots of army medals and badges. He had the same flaming skull as a belt buckle. The scary part, on his mouth, was a skull face, that changed his voice and made him talk like thunder.

"I am Immortan Joe, and why do you come to my territory?" he asked them.

"Well, my name is Evan, these are Elmer and Ben," he said pointing to them. "We came here to rescue our friends, which we believe your men attacked."

"How are you certain?" he asked.

"Well, for one, I saw your boys fixing a Ford GT, which they drove, and on the road, two dead men, with flaming skull tattoos." Evan stated.

"And you would like them set free?" he asked.

"Yep, and that's pretty much it."

"Only, only if you do something for me," he told them.

"Why the $ !% would we ever do anything for you?" Elmer yelled.

"Because, you are in my place, and I have the ability to kill you and your friends right now!"

"Just listen at least guys," Ben told his two companions.

"Your friend is smart," the big one standing next to Joe said.

"I'm really not," Ben replied.

"He's got a point," Elmer stated.

The War Boys ignored them.

"You will work for me four days, scouting and going to gastown, and bullet farm. After that, you may see your friends."

"Fine, but what are we supposed to do?" Elmer asked.

"What I tell you, nothing less!" Joe said. "I'll see you, on the Fury Road."

* * *

"That Immortan Joe guy is such a $&%!," Ben said as they were being escorted out.

"Are we really going to do what he says?" Elmer asked Evan.

"We don't really have a choice, once we're done though, we're gonna steal all the guns, water, gas, and ammunition we can take," Evan said as they got back to trucks.

"What if they pursue us?" Ben asked.

"We can take 'em, we already have a grenade launcher," Elmer said.

"We'll have to," Evan stated, and they walked toward the car.

* * *

 ** **The First Day****

On the first day, the gang, with the Warthog and the RV, went out on patrol. They were just supposed to scan the area of Immortan Joe's territory. The main order, was to not go into enemy territory. As an addition to their agreement, they got some sweet new upgrades to the vehicles.

The RV, since it had no weapons, got the most upgrades. For one, a big engine was placed on the front, that made it go more than twice as fast. Next to one of the windows, a big M1 turret was placed on it. A missile launcher was placed on the top, and a harpoon gun on front and back. Ben wasn't so sure they needed all of that.

Not much was added to the Warthog, just some gun holders and a skull painted on it. Patrol wasn't all that bad, Ben got to try out the new engine, before it blew out. He would have to have a talk with Immortan Joe. They hit some bumps along the way, but none that they couldn't get through. The RV had a tire blowout, but luckily it was close to lunch. While Mike and Evan changed it out, the rest of them had lunch. Just turkey sandwiches, but they were all very thankful.

"What's going to happen to them?" asked Sammy.

"You mean Caleb, Ringer, and Adisyn?" Lena asked.

"Yea, I mean, do you think they're dead?" he asked.

"Gee, I don't know, hopefully not," Lena told him.

"But we mustn't lose hope," Ben confirmed. "If there's anyone who'll stay alive, it's my Marika."

Elmer looked at Ben angrily. "What about my Caleb, and Adisyn?" He said.

"O yeah, them too," he replied.

"Eh, nobody really cares about Adisyn," Evan remarked.

"What did he look like?" Sammy asked. All eyes turned on him.

"Who?" Cassie asked.

"This Immortan Joe guy, was he all mean and scary?" Sammy had his eyes wide, wanting a full description.

"You sure you can handle it?" Elmer asked.

"I sure can, I'm like eight or nine now!" He told him.

"Well, he was definitely mean, and very scary and intimidating," Elmer told him.

"Yeah, but what did he look like?"

"Shh! I'm getting to that part, be patient!" Elmer tod him with a firm voice.

"He was an old man, with long white hair," Elmer said.

"And he pretended to have pecs and abs, with this clear breastplate with badges and medals," Ben said. Sammy's eyes were way wide now, as were Lena's and Cassie's.

"He had a skull belt, and a skull mask, with two tubes going from it to his back, which made his voice sound like thunder. And when he spoke, it was almost impossible for you to not listen," Elmer concluded.

"Whoa, cool, are we gonna kill him now?" Sammy asked.

"Okay, time for a nap now," Cassie told him.

"What, I don't take naps now, I'm older!" Because he was nine now, Sammy thought he knew everything.

"Still, you need a rest after the long journey and story," Cassie ordered.

"Awww, bye guys," and he went in the RV with his sister.

"What if Immortan Joe doesn't keep his word?" Lena asked.

"Then, we'll fight him obviously," Evan said returning.

"Yeah, we could take 'em," Mike chimed in (we all know that the chiming meme will never die).

"I dunno, they seem pretty tough," Ben told them.

"Yeah, but we have more fighting experience," Mike said.

"Fine, if he doesn't stay true to his word, we'll kill him and his War Boys, but only if we have to, understood?"

"Yes," everyone said with confidence.

"We'd better get back on the road, head back, and give a report," Evan said.

They all got back in the trucks, and headed back.

* * *

 **The Second Day**

The second day, the gang was ordered to go to GasTown and Bullet Farm. They were told that their trucks would be backing it up, and there would also be another car and a bike. When Ben asked what they were backing up, Immortan Joe just showed them. It was called, _The War Rig._ A huge semi truck with giant wheels and engines. It carried a giant tank full of water, and a smaller one carrying gas. About eight War Boys were on it. The driver was an Imperator: her name was Furiosa. No one else sat with her, but once she was ready, everybody was ready. The engines started, and they started off. The Warthog was in the front, War Rig next, Bike next to it, one of Immortan Joe's cars, and then the RV in the back.

"May I sit with you?" Lena asked Furiosa before they set off.

"Why?" she asked.

"Just for some company, you seem like you need it."

"Okay, get in then, but don't cause any trouble."

Lena got in, and the party headed off. The Citadel signaled GasTown, and Elmer was just praying they didn't blow up.

"Why are you here? I've never seen you before," Furiosa asked Lena.

"Well, my name's Lena, and we made this deal with Immortan Joe, because our friends got captured."

"How?"

"Dunno, I guess they were attacked."

"How come you don't just rescue them yourself?"

"Because he had the power at the time, and could kill us instantly."

"When I was a child, I lived somewhere else, but I was taken."

"By whom?" Lena asked.

"I don't remember, I got traded a couple times, and ended up here, now, I drive the biggest vehicle here, the War Rig."

"Are you ever going to escape?"

"Yes, with his breeders. I'm just waiting for the perfect opportunity."

"When will that be?"

"Not sure, maybe soon, maybe in a few months, You can't tell."

"Yeah, why _do_ we need to go to GasTown and Bullet Farm anyway?"

"Because, we survive, on water, and gas. The bullets are to fight with."

"What or who do you fight?"

"Other War Gangs."

The drive was about fifteen minutes, before reaching GasTown. It was a scary place. There were big thick columns generating smoke, and the smell was overpowering. Furiosa gave them water, and in return they gave her gasoline. Now Lena understood, they traded with one another, not fight it out, she was glad about that. Driving back was the hard part.

Driving to Bullet farm, one of the War Boys spotted something.

"Spikey Cars, Spikey Cars ahead!" he said.

Sure enough, Lena looked back, and there were two cars, with a bunch of spikes on them. She could barely make out the men inside, but they were dressed in a way that they looked like tusken raiders from Star Wars. Furiosa sounded the horn, and it was time for battle, Cassie hoped this would never come.

"Get ready Evan!" Elmer yelled to him. The cars were closest to them, so Elmer started firing his turret. The cars tried to ram the rig, but only managed to put a few holes in the water tank. The War Boys on top started to throw the explosive spears into them.

"Ben, watch the spikes, I'll fire the M1!" Sammy said, and fired at the closet car. On the Rig, one of the Boys lost his balance, and fell on a spikey car. It impaled his chest though, leaving a dead corpse on it. Sammy knew he'd be hunted forever.

Since the War Boy car was equipped with rocket launchers, the shot one into one car, blowing it up. But then a third one rammed into it, toppling it. Elmer was shooting like he couldn't anymore, until the bullets ran out.

"Mike, come with me, Evan, keep us steady and close to the War Rig!" Elmer ordered.

Evan did just that, and Elmer and Mike climbed on the Rig. They ran from the front to the back.

"Hang tight Lena!" Mike told her as he followed Elmer.

"I'm gonna do something insane!" Mike told Elmer.

"What? I can barely hear you," Elmer said back.

"Just watch my back," Mike responded, and he jumped in front of a car. He then proceeded to flip it. He did, and grabbed on to one of the doors of the RV. Elmer continued to travel, and got on the bike, just as the old driver was shot with a crossbow. He drove fast, and ran right up alongside the RV.

"Look out!" Sammy said. Elmer turned around, and saw yet a fourth and a fifth car, but they weren't cars. One was a spikey semi truck, and the other, a spikey pickup truck. Elmer grabbed a spear, and got behind the trucks. Meanwhile, Sammy kept shooting the turret until it ran out of ammo.

"I'm going on the roof!" Sammy said, and started climbing.

"No you're not!" Cassie said, and she grabbed him away.

"I can do this, it's the only way," and he got out of Cassie's grip, and fired a rocket on the top into the pickup truck window. It blew, flipped over, and exploded. The other truck noticed, and the driver fired at Sammy. He missed, but the shot hit the ground by his feet, causing him to topple off the roof.

"Ahhhh!" he wailed in fear, and rolled over the top.

"Sammy!" Cassie screamed.

Had Elmer not seen, he wouldn't have caught him. Sammy fell off the bike, and used the remaining spears to shoot the semi-truck.

"Get behind him!" Sammy ordered. Elmer nodded, and got behind the truck.

"Now! Shoot the wheels, you best shot!"

Elmer pulled out one of his pistols, and shot the back wheels with three shots each. With the friction from the bullets, they popped, and the truck lost control; it regained it shortly, it still had six wheels.

"Give me the wheel Ben! You help Sammy and Elmer!" Cassie ordered. Ben grabbed a shotgun, AR15, and an UZI, and went to the roof. He shot the front window several times before jumping into it. He punched one guy, and emptied the clip on the UZI on another. Blood flew everywhere.

" !#%!" he said to himself. He signaled Elmer to get back, and then used his grenade belt, pulled one, and quickly got out. The truck exploded, and fell on its side, which only led to more explosions.

"Yeah Ben!" Sammy yelled.

"They did it!" Furiosa told Lena.

"Yeah, when it comes to fighting and teamwork, we do okay."

"Okay? That was better fighting then I've seen from these guys."

"Well, we still have to get to Bullet Farm, then we'll give a report to Joe," Lena said.

Bullet Farm was smooth sailing, well, more like driving, but it worked out fine. The leader had bad teeth, and had bullets most places on his clothes. The Farm, wasn't really a farm at all. It was a big hole in the ground, where they got lead and made gunpowder. Again, they traded water and some gas for gunpowder and bullets, all kinds.

When they returned to the Citadel, they reported to Immortan Joe. Furiosa, Evan, Elmer, and Mike went to talk to him.

"What was the delay, what happened!?" Immortan Joe asked.

"We were attacked, by spikey cars," Furiosa responded.

"And you won?"

"Yes sir," she told him.

"Did you still get the needed supplies?"

"Yes," she told him.

"What about you three?" he said pointing to the others.

"The're very skilled, we wouldn't have beat them if they hadn't come," Furiosa told Joe, who was listening intently. "One of their companions blew up a car, and Elmer, blew up another. Destroying the others was a team effort," she told him.

"How many casualties?" Joe asked.

"Six War Boys down, another wounded," Furiosa confirmed.

"And one of ours was nearly killed, but will make a speedy recovery," Evan said.

"I don't care, just finish the days, and you can be on your way!" Joe told them.

* * *

 **The Third Day**

For the third day, Evan, Mike, and Ben did some repairs to the cars. The front engine on the RV needed fixing, so Evan and Ben did that, while Mike made even more modifications to the Warthog. Cassie was very worried for Sammy, and kept yelling at him for doing dangerous things. Sammy reminded her that he saved their skins, and she should be grateful, but he truly felt like something special now. Lena spent some time talking with Furiosa, about her life, and how she was brought here. Lena even had a plan for her escape, but she wouldn't tell anyone else. Furiosa chose to use it, for a future escape. There was only one more day of work, and then they would get to move on.

* * *

 **Caleb**

Caleb gave them quite a fight, but at the end of the day, the three friends weren't prepared. The War Boys went back and retrieved Marika, then took Caleb and his comrades to their place, which was called The Citadel. It was a huge place, with multiple towers made of rock and dirt. On top of them were green plants and trees. Caleb wasn't quite sure how they got that to work, they must've had some water. It turned out they had even more cars, including some kind of truck with giant speakers and drums. Caleb didn't see how useful that is. Inside, they tortured them. They were shackled, their hair cut super short, which was very embarrassing for Marika and Adisyn. The War Boys then wrote some things on their backs, like a tattoo kinda, it really hurt. Their backs and hands were bloody. The final mark, was a flaming skull. They burned it on their necks, and the friends were suffering for hours. Then, the War Boys cut them for testing blood, and hung them upside down. They hung for nearly two hours: just as they were going under, the War Boys put them rightside up, and placed them in cages. If Caleb ever got out of here, he swore he would hurt those War Boys, worse than they hurt him. Sometimes, they would hang the three upside down again. Attach a blood line to their necks, a torture mask, and use them as blood bags for War Boys. They heard that the leader of these men was called Immortan Joe, and had a voice like thunder. By the end of the third day, they were running low. The War Boys gave them some water, and very little food, how were they supposed to get blood from the gang if they weren't fed!

* * *

 **The Fourth Day**

On the fourth day, the TAAO Gang was only ordered to fix and clean guns. Very simple. Evan did the best, since he knew guns the most. Elmer was super fast, at pistols at least. He could fix and clean the whole thing in about fix minutes. Immortan Joe was actually impressed with his work, and gave him a twenty minute break. Other than that, they just planned some more, and took care of Sammy.

* * *

 **Release Day**

The day of their release, the fifth day. On the day, they waited to be summoned, for they couldn't really just walk in. Soon enough, a War Boy came.

"Immortan Joe must speak with you, bring four of you, and one of them needs to be the one with a child," he told them.

"Why does she need to come?" Evan asked.

"Don't question the Immortan, just do what he says!"

Evan, Elmer, and Ben went, and they took Cassie as well.

"Why the $!% did I have to come again."

"I dunno, Immortan Joe ordered it," Elmer said.

When they got there, he was waiting for them as always, with the same two men at his side.

"What do you wish to have?" he asked them.

"We just want our friends and car back," Evan replied.

"Very well, turn around, and you will see," he told them, and pointed to the back door.

All three of them looked, the door opened, and out stepped Marika, Adisyn, and Caleb. Their clothes were torn, they had bruises all over them, and a flaming skull on their necks, just like the War Boys.

"What the !$%# did they do to you!?" Elmer asked them.

"They hurt us, burned us, used us for blood," Caleb said quietly.

"Can we go now, and have the GT back?" Cassie said.

"Yes, you can, it is waiting for you, but if you want to leave, you must give me the child!"

"What the !$ &!, this is my baby, you can't have him!" Cassie said.

"Wait, Cassie, just wait a second," Evan said.

"How could you say that!" Cassie said.

Evan looked at Elmer, right at his smoke grenades in his belt, and nodded, Elmer nodded back.

"Ok Joe, we'll do it, but are you ready ... for this!" Elmer yelled as his took two smoke grenades and launched them at the ground. Evan grabbed Cassie and they ran toward the exit.

"Stop them!" Immortan Joe ordered through the smoke.

"Hurry!" Evan yelled as the ran to the cars.

They got to them, and the GT was waiting for them.

"Can you drive!" Evan asked Caleb.

"I think so, I can!" he replied with confidence.

"Mike did you get the weapons, gas, and water?" Evan asked.

"Yep, tons of ammo and guns."

"Start the engines!" Evan yelled, and within ten seconds, they were off.

At the Citadel, Immortan Joe and his gang were preparing to pursuit.

* * *

 **The Chase**

They got on the trucks, and made a speedy getaway.

"What did you steal!" Elmer asked Mike as they were escaping.

"I got a whole mess of gasoline and water, about eight rockets for a launcher, eight pistols, three rifles, one grenade launcher, ten grenades, and about a thousand of each bullet," he replied.

"Nice," Elmer said, and he gave him a thumbs up.

"Elmer, turn around, make sure we're not being followed!" Evan ordered.

Elmer did, and saw about ten pursuit vehicles coming towards them.

"About ten vehicles behind, and gaining on us, speed up Evan!" Elmer told him.

"Mike, tell the others," Evan ordered, and gave him the walkie talkie.

"Ben, Caleb, get ready, Immortan Joe's pursuing us! It's because we didn't give him the child, and I stole his favorite pistols!"

"Nice payback," Caleb said.

"Stay on topic, we have got to prepare for attack!" Ben told them.

"Good, put someone on the top of the RV to operate the rocket, and someone has to use the turret!" Mike ordered.

"Roger that," they both replied.

"God help us all!" Elmer said.

"We're gonna head for the canyons, hopefully no more War Parties are in there," Evan told them.

Within about twenty minutes, the first cars were on top of them, five of them, one was the War Rig.

"I don't want to kill Furiosa!" Lena protested.

"We have to stop them, so we can survive, we're more important!" Ben told her.

Sammy rocketed one of the smaller ones, which he got two for one. The first one spun out of control, crashing into other, taking them both down. Elmer turned the turret around, and fired at the War Boys on the Rig. They got a couple spears into the RV though before all the boys were dead.

"Get me on the Rig!" Marika ordered Caleb. He put the car into reverse, and she grabbed on to it. She went to the top, and she was greeted by two kill-hungry War Boys. She shot and punched one off the truck, and he went under the wheels. The other one came at her with a spear. She ducked, grabbed it, and thrust it into his neck.

"!#$% you !# %&!$!" and she wrung the spear around, decapitating him.

"Now for Furiosa!" and she went towards the cockpit.

The other car was attacking the GT, but Caleb was too good a driver, and Adisyn lobbed a grenade into the car. The window shattered, and the grenade flew in. The car exploded.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Adisyn exclaimed.

They celebrated their short victory, before more cars joined them.

Cassie held on to the couch with her child, holding him tight. She also had the other two babies.

"Hang on Cassie, we're almost at the canyon!" Ben told her.

"Sammy, no more rockets at the War Rig!" Mike told him.

Lena had this car chosen, a black pickup truck. She kept shooting into the front window, until it broke, then the bullets pierced the driver and his passengers.

Then, a giant train-like car pulled up next to them. It looked like a passenger train, with wheels on it so it could drive on terrain.

"Mike, with me!" Elmer said. "Evan get us close to the train, we're gonna take it down.

Evan pulled over, and Mike and Elmer got on.

Meanwhile, Marika attempted to take Furiosa. She jumped down into the cockpit, and thrust her knife into her side. Furiosa cried out and threw Marika onto the front of the front. Marika held onto the engine, and shot her pistol at Furiosa. Furiosa also shot at her, but no bullets hit their mark. The War Rig drove next to the RV, and Marika jumped on. The Furiosa retreated with the Rig. But they still had five left, and one was a full blown train.

Sammy took care of three, shooting more rockets into them. Three War Boys landed on the roof, and tried to kill Sammy. Sammy acted quickly, pulling out his Beretta, killing one. He then took his knife, and stabbed one in the chest several times. He was too busy with that, so he didn't notice the other one coming up behind him. He grabbed Sammy by the throat, and flung him off, or at least tried to. Sammy held on tight, and the momentum took them both off. Sammy managed to stay on barely, by grabbing the barrel of the M1 turret. The little kid was using luck and physics to take down attackers.

On the train, Mike and Elmer fought of waves of War Boys. For Mike, it was no hard task, he could just pick them up and throw them. Elmer though had to fight them like a normal human being, which he was. Elmer used the two fully auto shotguns he had, and emptied both of them on seven boys. By the time they were done, they were both covered in blood, and Elmer had a bunch of scratches and bruises.

"Let's get inside, the RV's taking a beating!" Elmer told Mike.

It sure was, parts of it were burning up, it had taken too much damage. Mike opened a top door, and both jumped in.

"I'll go to the front, you go back more, and see if any War Boys are still around," Elmer said.

"Righto, good call Elmer, you should be second-in-command," Mike responded.

Once they both left the car, both doors shut automatically, and Mike was swarmed by War Boys. Again, pretty easy for him. Elmer used his knife and gun to fend them off. One War Boy shot him in the leg with a shotgun.

"AHHH!" he yelled and rammed into him. With an angry face, he shot him right in the mouth, and both eyeballs, not a pretty sight. Elmer winced in pain as he struggled to reach the front. He ran into two more War Boys. He knifed one, and shot another. He also was shot in the foot and side, and got hit on the head very hard. For each War Boy, he shot their eyes and mouth, making them suffer. He kept falling and stumbling, before reaching the front. Another War Boy charged in suicidally and was shot directly in the heart. Elmer approached the driver.

"This is for Edward you !#%$ !&!"And he sliced his head off. Elmer was covered in blood, sweat, and tears, but he succeeded. He got back on the top of the Train, and saw that the other cars had been destroyed, and the War Rig had gone away.

He strapped a chain to his waist, and made his way to the back, where Mike was. He could also see in front of him, they were almost at the canyon. He walked as fast as could to get to the cockpit again, to make sure they didn't crash, but it was too late.

"Elmer, lookout!" Caleb yelled to him.

Elmer turned around, and a War Boy shot him right next to his mouth and on the arm. He lost balance, fell over, and rammed into the side of the train and went back in the air. He then hit a giant rock, the chain snapped. He hit the wall hard again, before crashing onto the ground and passing out.

* * *

Elmer awoke to the nice AC of an RV. Their RV. For what he recalled, they got into a big fight, he was shot, and passed out. Hopefully no one died.

"Elmer, are you feeling better?" Caleb asked hopefully.

"Uhg, yeah, I think so, what happened?" he asked.

"Me, Marika, and Adisyn got captured, so you had to rescue us," Caleb told him.

"Then what?"

"What do you mean then what? You were right there with us!" Lena said.

"Wasn't there some guy, and we had to work for him, but then we escaped, had a road battle, I saved the day and got really injured?" Elmer asked.

"Basically, although it wasn't just you you did all the saving," Caleb said.

"And, you're lucky to be alive, Elmer, Caleb saw it all, you were shot in the lip, then fell, crashed against the train twice, then you're chain broke, and we had to go back to rescue you," Lena stated.

"How long has it been?" Elmer asked.

"About three days, you just need to rest," Lena told him.

"Where's everyone else?"

"In the cars, driving, they're safe, and we got through the canyon with no trouble," Caleb told him.

"No trouble?" Elmer asked with his eyebrow raised.

"We had a smaller fight with these biker guys," Lena told him.

"Oh, glad I wasn't awake for that," Elmer said.

"They told us we were in their territory, so they started attacking us by hitting jumps and throwing bombs at us, no major damage," Lena said.

"And you should have seen Marika and Sammy, they were awesome. One guy grabbed him, but he shot the baddie and used the bike to take out some others," Caleb told him.

"What about Marika, you said she was awesome as well."

"Ringer made a couple mid air pistol kills and saved me from a shot," Lena told him.

"Well, seems like a full couple days, any casualties?" he asked.

"Sammy fell and was shot in the hand and foot, but that's about it, most of us just have scratches and bruises," Caleb said shrugging.

"Cool, well, if you don't mind, I think I'll get some rest, I need it for sure," Elmer said.

"Of course, we'll just leave you," Caleb said, and they walked out.

Elmer then pulled out the mask that matched the outfit. He had several scars on his face, and he didn't want anyone to see them. With this mask, he would be able to hide them, and his emotion for his brother's death.

 **End of Chapter 21**


	20. How Many Races of Aliens Are There?

Prequel

The humans on Earth were blissfully unaware of the other humans. These were the humans that lived in the Andromeda galaxy, the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. They lived on a vast network of Colony planets, at the center of which was the planet Reach, the main military planet and the home of Humanity.

The humans had just shut down an insurrection of the outer colony worlds, and were in a short time of peace. That was when a collective alliance of alien species (Unggoy, Sangheili, Kig-Yar, Mgalekgolo, Huragok, San'Shyuum, Jiralhanae, and Yan'me) formed together under the leadership of the San'Shyuum to form the Covenant. The Covenant believed that they had a moral obligation to completely wipe out humanity, and they started with the farming planet of Harvest.

Harvest went silent, and soon a war between the humans the Covenant erupted. The Covenant travelled across the human worlds, decimating human planets. Eventually, they reached Reach (ha ha, reached Reach :). They attacked and defeated the humans on their last home planet. After the battle, only one ship escaped: the Infinity. Aboard the Infinity were Captain Lasky, as well as a great deal of soldiers, several civilians, and a few super-soldiers, known as SPARTANS. These SPARTANS had high-tech armor and genetic modification that made them into the ultimate super-soldiers.

The Covenant allowed the Infinity to escape, believing that the ship would have nowhere to run and that all the passengers would starve to death. But what they didn't know was that Lasky knew about a different human planet, located in the Milky Way Galaxy: Earth, the home of other surviving humans. They traveled from the Andromeda Galaxy across space, and eventually arrived at Earth. That's when they encountered the Mothership, for this took place before the Mothership was destroyed.

Since everyone on board the ship was in cryosleep, the only thing piloting the ship was an autopilot system. Since this autopilot didn't know how to operate the weapons, the Infinity stood no chance against the Mothership. The Infinity was shot down, and it plummeted through the atmosphere, to crash land somewhere far away from home….

* * *

 **Cassie**

They had been walking for eight hours straight with only a half hour break (I know that's not really eight hour straight. Cut me some slack). Cassie, Marika, and Lena each had a stroller and were pushing their babies in them. Mike and Evan were always ahead of the gang, and they had to keep waiting for them. Everyone else was dragging along.

"C'mon, it's almost dark out, can't we spend the night here!" Cassie complained.

"NO! Unless you want to die from dangerous animals, we need to find some place to get out, like a hotel or something. Besides, it's not that far left," Mike told her.

"That's what you said one hour ago, and the hour before that, and before that, and," Marika complanied.

"We get it, your tired, but that's just life," Mike told her.

"Yeah, this isn't so bad, it's really fun!" Sammy agreed.

"Says you! You're on Evan's back!" Caleb said.

"Maybe, but, that's because I'm youngest!" Sammy said sticking his tongue out.

"False, we have the babies," Lena replied.

"They don't count!" Sammy complained.

"Sure they do, they're people, aren't they?" Cassie replied.

"Not really," Sammy answered.

"Whaddya mean, not really?" Marika asked indignantly.

"They're just useless lumps of flesh with mouths," Sammy reasoned.

"They're CHILDREN!" Cassie yelled, clearly incensed.

"Sammy, I'm warning you not to make her mad," Evan said cautiously. "We both know what happens when she gets mad."

"Ya," Ben said. "I still bear the scars from last time…"

Cassie remembered the dreaded "last time". It is best not to speak of "Last time" here, in case there are any small children reading.

"According to the map, we should be coming up on Phoenix pretty soon," Elmer called from the back of the line.

"Oh, good, we can stop there," Adisyn remarked. "Maybe we will have a little break."

"Probably not," Ben replied. "With your luck, we'll never have a break."

" _My_ luck?" Adisyn said. " _You're_ the one who has bad luck. You're pretty much a taboo for our group."

"Ya, pretty much," Ben admitted.

"Check it out, a gas station!" Marika yelled.

"No! That's a house!" Evan told her. For it was, he was looking with binoculars and saw an old run down shack. It had some broken windows and the door was nailed down. The roof had holes in it and was covered in moss. But not only was there a house: in the dark of night, the massive shapes of colossal skyscrapers dotted the horizon. Phoenix was just within sight, on the skyline.

"That's no house, that's a haunted house!" Caleb exclaimed.

"Which is still a house!" Sammy yelled back.

"And you guys are making so much noise that it will attract every Silencer in a five-mile radius," Cassie replied angrily.

"Anyway, all I care about is that we can finally stop," Adisyn said with a smile on her face.

"Oh no, just because there's a house, does not mean we're stopping!" Evan told them.

"What, come on! Why not! I'm suffering! This sucks! We have to stop! No way! Heck no! What about the babies!" Everyone yelled at once.

"Be quiet!" Evan yelled back. "I'm the leader, so I get to say what we do!"

"Oh, you're the leader, then?" Elmer replied. "Well then I guess it's about time for a coup!"

"Coup! Coup! Coup! Coup!" everyone yelled, advancing towards Evan and shaking their fists. Evan looked around wildly.

"We'll take a vote!" Cassie told everyone. "Execute him, or let him live!"

"Vote! Vote! Vote!" they all chanted, except for Mike.

Evan knew he was going to lose, so he just gave up.

"Fine! We can stop!" Evan replied, halting the advance.

"Aww," Cassie said. "I wanted to execute him."

The house was still a quarter of a mile away, so they just walked there and everyone, except Mike and Evan and Sammy, collapsed right there on the front porch Evan took a long hard, stare at the nailed down door.

"Well, gang, looks like the door's nailed shut, so we can't get in!" Evan told everyone.

"You have superstrengh, you dolt!" Len yelled at him. Evan sighed again, knowing he was beat, and he kicked at the door, but pretended to be hurt.

"Oooo, ow, my foot got hurt, I can't stand on it!" he said, falling down.

"I'll do it!" Mike announced, as he effortlessly punched the door down. Inside, was nothing. Just a hardwood floor covered in dust, dirt, and cobwebs.

"This place is in sad shape," Adisyn exclaimed.

"That's okay, we have sleeping bags, so that will work fine," Marika said. Everyone shrugged.

Slowly but surely, everyone laid out their sleeping bags. Evan pretended that his sleeping bag was missing and managed to convince Mike to go out and look for it, before Cassie pointed out that Evan's sleeping bag was in his backpack. Everyone agreed not to trust Evan.

They would've brushed their teeth, but there was no functioning sink. They would've taken a bath, but there were no functioning tubs. They would've been clean in general, but there was nothing to be clean with. So everyone just climbed into their sleeping bags and went to sleep.

Cassie couldn't sleep, however. It was too cold. There was too much dust. There was a spider crawling in her sleeping bag… holy crap, a spider in the sleeping bag! Cassie yelped, jumping out of the sleeping bag. Then, all hell broke loose.

Evan jumped up, screaming, and ran out of the door. Mike chased him down, yelling "Come back, nothing's happening!" Caleb jumped into Elmer's arms, and Elmer promptly dropped him. Lena jumped up, hitting her head on the ceiling, and tripped and fell on the ground. Marika punched Ben in the face, on accident. All three babies were screaming angrily. Adisyn tried to go into a room and shut the door, but she did it too hard and the door fell down, so she just hid in her sleeping bag. Sammy, however, was just sitting there.

"What the [censored] are you guys doing?" Sammy asked.

"I don't know, someone was screaming," Lena said, massaging her wounded head.

"I didn't scream, I yelped quietly," Cassie retorted.

"It sounded like a scream to me," Ben replied. "You screamed like a girl."

"I _am_ a girl, you imbecile!" Cassie yelled in response.

That's when Mike returned, dragging Evan by his feet. Adisyn poked her head out of the sleeping bag, saying "Is it over?"

"Nothing happened!" Sammy yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I thought someone died, or a snake, or animal or something like that," Adisyn said, shaking her hands.

"Well, it looks like this place is too dangerous, we'd better keep going!" Evan said.

"No way, I want to go to sleep, and if someone wakes me up, I'm gonna have a conniption fit, go ballistic, attack everyone, and many other terrible things no one wants to have happen to them!" Sammy yelled with all his breath, then crawled back into his bag and shut his eyes, hoping for some sleep.

"See? It's too dangerous!" Evan said. "We can't live in harmony with Sammy!"

"Sammy's not the problem," Cassie said. "It was a stupid spider in my sleeping bag, it scared me."

"See? Too dangerous! What if the spider was poisonous?" Evan pointed out.

"For your information, spiders aren't poisonous, they're venomous!" Lena interrupted.

"What's the difference?" Evan asked.

"Well, poison is something you eat," Lena said.

"Why would you eat it?" Evan asked.

"You don't do it on purpose, someone else would put it in some food and give it to you," Lena replied patiently. "Or, it might already be in the food."

"Alright, that's fair," Evan conceded. "Now, what's venom?"

"Venom is something you inject," Lena replied.

"Why would you inject it?" Evan asked.

Lena sighed. "To kill things, obviously."

"I didn't know spiders injected, I thought they bit," Elmer said.

"Why are you guys such idiots?" Lena asked, crawling into her sleeping bag and going to sleep.

"Hey," Elmer said. "What'd I do?"

Lena didn't answer.

"WHAT'D I DO?" Elmer asked, shaking Lena around in her sleeping bag.

"COULD YOU GUYS PLEASE SHUT UP?!" Sammy asked from his sleeping bag. "I won't ask again, or else!"

"He's right, we need to go the Phoenix tomorrow, so everyone rest up," Mike said.

"Well, I could go to bed, but I worry about more spiders," Cassie said.

"Oh, that's not the only thing, there's snakes, lizards, scorpions, and cactuses," Evan said.

"Then I'm with Evan!" Cassie and Adisyn said.

"Okay, two more, who else is with me?" Evan said, raising his arms.

"I ain't scared of some little animals," Elmer said, "go to bed."

"I'm with you, too," Marika said.

"Now then, the odds have it, we'll go forth!" Evan declared, but a little too loud.

Sammy's eyes opened with a large BOOM sound. He rolled onto his back, looking towards the ceiling. He took in a long breath, and let it out slowly. The room was deathly silent.

"Evan Walker," Sammy said coldly. "You've failed me for the last time."

And then, he was out of his sleeping bag in a flash. He darted across the room at lightning speed and launched himself at Evan, screaming a terrifying battle cry. Evan screamed like a little girl, and Sammy tackled him to the ground. Little nine-year-old fists flew forth, destroying Evan's face. Evan yelled in pain, as blow after blow hammered down. Blood spattered everywhere, and Sammy wasn't stopping, and somehow the war theme from Rocky started playing.

"Sammy!" Cassie said angrily. "Get off Evan, or I'm gonna… I'm gonna…"

"She's gonna activate Raging Rhino Mode," Ben warned.

"Oh no, please don't activate Raging Rhino Mode!" Sammy said frantically, jumping off Evan and looking terrified. Evan's face was a bloody mass, but his skin tissue was already putting itself back together due to his Silencer regeneration.

"Well done, Sammy!" Evan said. "I'm very proud of you! I knew I raised you well! Now, since you've proved yourself to be of great physical caliber and strength, we can keep moving!"

Everyone's heads turned to look towards Evan.

"Okay, fine, we can sleep!" Evan replied, climbing into his sleeping bag. Everyone else climbed in as well, heaving sighs of relief. It was sleeping time, and Cassie was somehow able to ignore the cold (never mind the fact that she woke up and dragged everyone towards her to make a wall of anti-cold).

* * *

 **The Next Morning**

"ALRIGHT!" a voice yelled, dragging Cassie out of her blissful slumber. It was Evan, standing in the middle of the room, yelling at the top of his voice.

"Rise and shine!" he yelled. "We've got a big day of walking ahead of us. There isn't a moment to lose, Marble Falls is only two states away, and we need to get moving before it gets hot out."

Cassie groaned, rolling over in her sleeping bag. Mike had already crawled out, and most of the boys were following. Evan had made the mistake of waking the babies: they were screeching again, their earsplitting yells probably notifying all hostiles within the area to a human's presence.

Cassie slid out of the sleeping bag, heading towards her child.

"Did Daddy wake you?" Cassie cooed, picking up little Lisa in her arms. "He's so mean, isn't he? What a nasty guy. Yeah. A nasty guy."

"I think it's breakfast time," Lena decided, walking behind Cassie to get Baby Thomas.

Everyone pulled out their food (the meal plan for the day involved a bunch of Mountain House products collected on a Winco raid. The breakfast agenda included Freeze Dried Apple Crisp). Mike started the fire, and Sammy threw some water in the pot. Slowly but surely, the water boiled, and with the babies nice and fed, the group began to eat.

Post-eating, it was about six in the morning. Everyone got dressed and packed, and by that time, it was nearly seven. Finally, at seven-thirty, everyone shouldered their packs or climbed into strollers, and the group proceeded out towards Phoenix, after leaving in order of departure.

The desert air was already a little hot: Phoenix was much more visible, now. Steel gray skyscrapers towering several stories high. The upper echelons of Chase Tower were visible above the other buildings. The group slowly pushed through the sand to a road leading into Phoenix.

"Ah, much better!" Evan said. "More traction on the road then on the sand."

Everyone agreed: they walked up, onto the road, and started pushing towards Phoenix.

* * *

 **Elmer**

A half-hour later, they arrived. Phoenix was empty of human life, the former bustling roads and shining lights were gone. An eerie silence not appropriate for a big city filled the air.

Evan and Ben, two of the most proficient combatants in the group, had gone ahead to scout. Elmer and Caleb were leading the way, guns out, while Mike brought up the rear. The four girls, Sammy, and the babies were all in the middle. Marika and Cassie were both armed to the teeth with their M16s, and Lena™ and Adisyn didn't seem to care about guns.

"I don't trust this place," Cassie said fearfully. "It's way too quiet. With Evan and Ben gone, Silencers could take us out like a lawn mower whaling on grass."

"Cassie, we haven't seen a Silencer since that time in Chicago," Elmer replied. "But I agree: this place is creepy."

"Personally, I think that the faster we get out of here, the better," Sammy decided. Lena nodded in agreement.

That's when they saw Evan and Ben bolting towards them at top speed.

"Guys!" Ben yelled. "You need to see this!"

* * *

Everyone was standing in a line, near what used to be Verde Park. Instead, the massive tail-end of a colossal spaceship occupied the old park. It was sticking out at an angle, as the front half of the ship was almost out of sight, because the thing was totally titanic. It had smashed several tall buildings into the ground, and there was a gaping hole the size of a house in the hull.

"What. The. [censored]." Elmer said in his monologue.

"We found it," Evan replied. "We haven't been in it yet."

"What do you mean, yet?" Adisyn asked incredulously. "We're not going in there."

"Oh, yes we are," Marika and Ben both said at the same time.

"Why?" asked Sammy.

"Remember when we went to Area 51?" Evan said.

"Ya."

"We went there to find weapons, weapons we could use to guarantee our survival," Evan continued. "Instead, we found out that we need to get to Marble Falls, to get Redpills and escape. What if, though, we don't need to walk to Marble Falls? What is we can fly this thing?"

Everyone thought about it for a moment.

"I suppose that's fair," Adisyn decided. "We'll go in."

"Alright, Mike, lead the way!" Evan said.

"What?" Mike complained. "Why me?"

"I don't know, it sounded good to me," Evan replied.

"I'll lead," Caleb decided.

"I'll bring up the rear," Elmer said.

"No, you won't!" Mike interrupted. "That's my job."

"Fine, I'll go with Caleb," Elmer replied.

"Why are we even walking in single-file, anyways?" Cassie asked. "Isn't that the way that soldiers always die in the movies?"

"That's true," Evan replied. "We'll just walk in a disorganized blob."

And so they did. As a disorganized blob, they walked into the ship. They had stepped into a big hangar-looking thing. Futuristic looking vehicles were scattered throughout the place, in various states of disrepair.

"Alright, everyone," Evan said. "Fan out and check this room out."

"This'll take a while," Caleb whispered to Elmer. He wasn't kidding: the room was massive.

Caleb and Elmer worked as a team. The first thing they did was walk towards a flipped over quad. The thing is, it wasn't a normal quad: it was covered in industrial-grade steel. It's tires were extra-tough, and it had two small cannon-like things on the front.

"Wanna try and flip it over?" Elmer suggested.

"Sure," Caleb replied casually. It couldn't be that hard, could it? Nope. It was extremely heavy. Elmer and Caleb worked at it, trying to figure out the correct way to flip it over for at least ten minutes. Finally, they were able to heave it over, but one of the tires landed on Caleb's foot. The quad-like thing started driving down the partially slanted hangar, only stopping when it hit something that looked like a helicopter. The funny part was that Mike was sitting in the cockpit of the helicopter when the quad hit it. The chopper flipped over a few times, and when the lid popped open and Mike emerged, he was livid.

Similar incidents continued happening in the hangar over a period of one hour, as members of the TAAO Gang attempted to repair several of the vehicles, with no apparent success. Finally, after several failures and disasters, Evan called the group together to announce that it was time to move on. So they did.

This time, they entered a hallway.

"Woah, a hallway," Evan said. "Shall we walk down it?"

"Yes," Elmer replied. Everyone walked down the very long hallway, towards a big old door.

Evan pushed open the door, and he led the way into a massive room. The room had a large console-looking thing in the center. Distributed all around the walls of the room were big tank-looking things. They were like glass pods, with ice covering the glass. On each one was a green button and a red button.

"What do you think _this_ is?" asked Marika.

"I dunno," Elmer replied. "It can't be anything good."

"Well, why not?" asked Caleb simply.

"Because _nothing_ good can ever happen to us," Elmer replied, grimly.

"Let's check out the console!" Cassie suggested.

Everyone walked over to the console. It essentially was divided into tons of rectangles, each one containing a red button and a green button, and having a different three-digit number near the top of the rectangle.

"So, if what I'm thinking is correct," Lena hypothesized, "these buttons all correspond to different pods."

"That's good thinking," Evan replied.

"Should we… open one?" Adisyn asked tentatively.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Yes, I believe we shall," Evan said slyly. "You'll be standing right next to the pod when it opens."

"What? Why me?" Adisyn asked frantically. "I carry no weapons! I'm completely inept when it comes to combat."

"All those things are true," Evan replied. "So what?"

"So, you're endangering my life by putting me near the pod," Adisyn complained.

"She's right," Ben said. "I'll do it."

"Why do you want to do it, Parish?" Evan asked.

"Since when do you call me Parish?" Ben countered, walking towards the first pod.

"Ugh, fine," Evan replied. "I'll open pod number one, then?"

"Yes, I think you will," Ben answered, positioning himself right next to the pod with the big "1" over it.

"Alright, three, two, one, go."

The pod door opened slowly and dramatically. It depressurized with a hissing sound, and white smoke billowed out. A man stood up from the pod: he was wearing a grey uniform with yellow stripes on the sleeves. His hair was brown and very short: his skin was only slightly tanned, and his eyes were a hazel-brown color. On the front of his uniform was an image of Earth with a garland surrounding it. His uniform was plastered with badges and medals.

As soon as he emerged, Ben jumped him from behind, quickly immobilizing him with a half-nelson. The man struggled for a few seconds, before going limp in Ben's arms.

"Is he unconscious?" Ben asked.

"I think so," Sammy replied.

"What do we do with him?" asked Cassie.

"I say we ask him a few questions," Evan decided. "Everyone, get ready for an interrogation!"

* * *

The room had changed dramatically over the last few minutes. The man who had emerged from the pod was tied up in a chair, with a gag on his mouth. The chair was parked against the table, and a pair of floodlights Elmer had found were aimed at his face.

"Alright, wake him up," Evan commanded. Cassie smacked him on the back, and he awoke with a start.

"Alright," Evan said. "What's your name?"

"Hmmmm, mm, mhmmmm, hmmmmm," the interrogated guy replied.

"Speak English, will ya?" Elmer asked.

"He _can't_ speak English, he's gagged," Lena pointed out.

"Oh- um, right," Evan stuttered. "Take his gag off, Cassie."

Cassie untied the guy's gag, and he immediately started talking.

"How dare you," he said, "how _dare_ you. How DARE you tie up me, Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity?"

"Sorry, Buzz Lightyear, but that means nothing to me," Evan replied.

"How?" the man, apparently named Lasky, said. " _Everyone's_ heard of me. I'm famous all around the galaxy for my victories against the Covenant!"

"Hold the phone," Lena interrupted. "What's the Covenant?"

"You don't know?" Lasky asked, clearly confused. "They're the xenocidal aliens who've been trying to wipe us out for twenty-five years."

"I think you need to start at the beginning, mister," Cassie suggested, "because I don't think you know where you are."

"Ya," Evan decided. "Start at the beginning, and describe whatever-it-is you need to describe as if we're people who'd never heard of anything you're talking about."

Lasky sighed. "Alright," he began. "It all started when-"

"Hold up!" Mike said loudly. "If he's gonna tell us a long story, I need to start making hot dogs."

"That's true!" Evan yelled.

"It's a family tradition to make hot dogs whenever we're gonna exchange stories with someone," Cassie informed the bemused Lasky.

Everyone got to work: Ben and Evan dragged in another conference table, which was chopped to bits by Marika using an axe. Caleb and Elmer used the wood from the table to assemble a coherent fire, which was ignited by Sammy. Mike started roasting the hot dogs.

"Alright," Evan said. " _Now_ tell us the story."

"Well," Lasky said patiently, "it all started in the middle of the Andromeda Galaxy…"

* * *

Lasky finished telling his story, and he was all out of breath. Cassie was staring at him, mouth wide open in shock and disbelief (I mean, whaddya expect? She never believes anything). Everyone else was thinking, and pondering.

"No," Cassie said. "No, no, no!"

She continued to speak, but Elmer and Caleb both joined in with her, repeating the exact same set of lines she would always use to communicate her disbelief.

"No, no, no, no!" they all chanted in unison. "I _don't_ believe it. I _won't_ believe it. This story is utter bull[censored] and it can't be true!"

Cassie looked angrily at the two friends, and seemed to be about to start one of her rants, when Lasky spoke up.

"Well, if you don't believe me, then explain this," he said, gesturing around the room dramatically.

"Yeah, good question," Lena interrupted. "Speaking of good questions, where are you?"

"Me?" Lasky asked. "I thought I could ask you."

"Oh," Lena said. "Yes. Shall we tell him?"

"Yeah," Evan said. "So, we're on Earth."

"No way!" Lasky interrupted. "If we were on Earth, then I would be safe, and we wouldn't have crashed!"

"This is Earth, but it's changed quite a bit," Evan said. "So let me explain,..."

And so they embarked upon the arduous telling of their dramatic three-hour story to good ol' Captain Lasky.

* * *

"So, what you mean to say is, that other aliens attacked here, they almost sent us back into the stone age, but you guys stopped them, and now you're trying to get to marble falls, but you ran into other Aliens, and War Gangs, and much other things?!" he asked very quickly.

"Yes, that would be accurate," Evan told him.

"But you left a bunch of stuff out!" Caleb interjected.

"Maybe, but I think he still got everything," Ben replied.

"What's our next step?" Evan asked Lasky.

"I'm not sure, but I need to check on the other cryo pods," Lasky told him.

"What are those?" Sammy asked.

"Oh, yes, the thing I was in. We use them on long distance voyages to freeze our bodies. It stops our growth but still keeps us alive and breathing, very very slowly."

"Huh?" Sammy asked.

"Some other time," Cassie told him.

"Well, sir, what people do you have?" Ben asked him. Lasky stepped up and begun to walk to the pods.

"The best kind!" he said and he kept walking.

"K, I'll go, along with Elmer, Marika, and Ben, the rest of you either do what you want, or be useful and explore some more of the ship," Evan told them as he and the other three stepped up and followed him. Once they were gone, Mike decided to take charge.

"I'll be in charge!" Mike quickly decided.

"Now wait just a minute you, I'm the oldest here, so I should lead!" Cassie argued.

"Youngest are more important, so I lead!" Sammy demanded.

"Again, the babies are the youngest," Adisyn remind him.

"They….don't….count!" Sammy said as he tackled her. Adisyn reacted with a backflip and a kick to Sammy's behind. Cassie, Mike, and Caleb were all arguing, Lena was trying to pry Sammy off Adi, the babies were crying, and everything was chaos.

* * *

Lasky led the way back to the room, and Evan, Elmer, Ben, and Marika continued to follow.

"We can awake the other passengers on the Infinity in the same way you woke me," Lasky said. "Then, we'll go outside, to see if your story is true."

"How will going outside help you tell if the story is true or not?" asked Evan.

"If I walk out, and I see a glassed planet, I'll know I crashed into a different human world in Andromeda," Lasky explained. "If I see a bustling society, I'll know I'm on Earth, but the humans are intact. If I see the remains of an unglassed human city, then I'll know your story is true."

"Ah," Evan replied.

Meanwhile, Elmer, Ben, and Marika were whispering at the back of the line.

"How do you think Lasky has in freezo-sleep?" Elmer asked quietly.

"And what do you think he meant when he said 'the best kind'?" Ben added.

"Probably humans with genetic or cybernetic enhancement," Marika theorized. "I mean, if these people were a very advanced human civilization, they've probably developed some way of modifying the human genetic structure or replacing parts of them with fully-functioning prosthetics. It stands to reason, therefore, that 'The Best Kind' is probably a type of human in perfect genetic condition, or in other words, at the peak of our evolutionary path."

There was silence for a moment.

"Say wa?" Ben asked.

"Cyborgs or something," Marika told him rolling her eyes.

"Ah, now that makes sense, I thought you meant….." Ben kept talking, but no one listened.

Here we are!" Lasky said as they entered the room.

"Where?" Ben asked catching up with everyone else.

"Where else, you dolt? The cryo chambers!" Evan told him.

There were endless rows (it seemed) of the same cryo pod they woke Lasky up from.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Marka asked. Lasky pointed to a room upstairs.

"I want you and Ben to go up there and wait for my signal, only do exactly as I say," he said quiet but firm.

"Yes sir!" Marika saluted, but Ben had already headed up there.

"Wait for me!" Marika yelled and ran after him.

"What do you want us to do sir?" Elmer asked Lasky.

"I want you two to watch, and don't say anything until I tell you."

"Sir, if I may, who exactly are we waking here?" Evan asked.

"He's the greatest soldier in history."

"Even better than George Washington?" Elmer asked him. Lasky looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What? Don't you know George Washington?"

"No, I am unaware of any Washington, standby," Lasky responded. "Prepare to open pod two."

"How?" Marika asked.

"Flip the switch on number under the number two!" he told her. Marika looked over the long board of buttons, switches, and numbers. There were ninety-five pods, each with their own switch, dial, and button.

"Here it is!" Ben said loudly as he flipped it. There was a hiss of steam some steam came out.

"Good, next, turn the dial to the left until it clicks!" Lasky ordered. Ben did that and the fog on the glass began to clear. It was getting more and more clear to see who was in their.

Evan saw a helmet, then armor, all dark green.

"Wake up Chief!" Lasky told him. He waited a minute, then said, "Can you hear me, Chief?" The Master Chief gave a nod.

"Ok then, push the button!" Lasky ordered of Marika or Ben. Ben slammed his hand down on it as there was some more hissing. The pod slowly opened and Master Chief stepped out.

"Good to have you back, sir!" Lasky told him with gratitude.

"You too, Commander," the Chief replied. His voice was somewhat low, and sounded scratchy. The Chief nodded to Evan and Elmer. "Who the $% ! are they?"

"They, are here to help, they're the reason we're alive today sir," Lasky responded.

"How?"

"Well, you see, we found your crashed ship, explored it, and we woke you up," Evan explained.

"Yeah, otherwise you would've died eventually, after a lot of years," Elmer added.

"Kid, why do you cover your face with a mask?" the Chief asked.

"Why do you cover yours?" Elmer asked back.

"It's for tactical purposes, I use it battle," and he took his off. (because no one has ever seen what he looks like, I cannot describe it)

"I wear mine, to cover up my scars, of life, of death, of battle," Elmer explained as he drifted off.

"Let's wake the rest of the group," Master Chief told Lasky.

"Right then, Marika, Ben, open every pod, wait ten seconds in between buttons," Lasky told them.

"Yes sir!" Marika and Ben said together with a salute, and then they proceeded to unlock the other pods. There were flips, turns, and pushes. There were opens, hisses, and steam.

Slowly but surely, people emerged. There were more tall people dressed in armour, like the Master Chief. There were also soldiers wearing fatigues, and soldiers wearing black armour similar to the Chief's. There were even some civilians.

"Who are all _these_ people?" asked Marika.

"SPARTANS," Master Chief replied. "Super soldiers, who are both genetically and cybernetically enhanced. We were trained from the age of six in combat and tactics, and now we're the only hope for humanity against the Covenant."

"And the Covenant are all those aliens?" Evan asked.

"Yes," Master Chief replied, "all the aliens."

The SPARTANS all marched towards Lasky and lined up at a full salute.

"Meet our shipboard SPARTANS," Lasky said. "These are the only survivors of the SPARTAN Corps after the battle on Reach.

"Frederick-104, our second-highest ranking SPARTAN. He specializes in mid-to-long range combat." The indicated SPARTAN stepped forward. His armour was very similar to the Master Chief's, but with a smaller visor.

"Kelly-087, our scout. She specializes in short-range combat." The next SPARTAN also stepped forward. Her helmet was shaped like a dome, possible for wider view on scouting missions.

"Linda-058, our sniper. She specializes in long-range combat." The third SPARTAN in line stepped forward. Her armour was white, instead of the seemingly-traditional greys and greens. The helmet had two small eye-holes instead of a visor.

"Finally, we have Kyle-A494, our combat engineer. He specializes in explosives, battlefield repair, and mid-combat construction. He was also the first super spartan, twice the strength of a normal SPARTAN." The final SPARTAN stepped forward. His armour was jet black, with a helmet similar to Kelly's. However, the helmet had a white skull printed onto it, and it was more rounded.

"Yea, sometimes the others are jealous of me," Kyle said.

The SPARTANS removed their helmets, to reveal perfectly human faces.

"Who are these people, sir?" asked Kyle, speaking to Lasky. Elmer noticed that one of his eyes had been rendered blind by a long burn across his face, like his own.

"These people found us," Lasky said. "Our ship has crashed, we don't know where, but these people say we're on Earth."

"If we reached our destination," the one called Linda asked, "why didn't Roland wake us up? Why'd we have to wait for these people?"

"Hey? Who you calling 'these people'?" Evan asked. He squared up to Linda: their heights were barely comparable.

"You, obviously," Linda replied.

"Cool it, Walker," Lasky interrupted. "You too, Petty Officer. I don't know why Roland didn't wake us up: we'll have to find out."

Marika and Ben walked towards them. They surveyed the SPARTANS.

"Yes," Ben said. "This is good."

"Should we go outside?" asked Elmer.

"Yes," Lasky agreed. "It's time to figure out if your story is true after all."

* * *

Evan, Ben, Lasky, Kyle, and Frederick were standing next to the door, beyond which was the remains of Phoenix, Arizona. Lasky and the two SPARTANS, however, didn't know that. They were just coming to see where they really were.

"Alright, open sesame," Evan said. He kicked the door.

"OW! [censored], [censored]," Evan screamed loudly, hopping around and holding his foot.

"Hold on," Frederick interrupted. He walked towards the door, and easily pushed it down.

"Okay," Ben said. "Okay, that worked!"

It was no longer light out: the TAAO Gang had been in the ship for many hours, swapping stories and unfreezing people. It was pitch black outside, and the shapes of looming buildings and skyscrapers stood high over the five men on the ground.

"Mother of God," Lasky said, looking around. There were no one, just as Ben and Evan had expected.

"Mother of…. Mary and Joseph!" Kyle exclaimed.

"It's not glassed, and it's not full of people!" Lasky remarked. He turned to Evan and Ben. "You weren't lying."

"Well, why would we?" Ben asked practically. Lasky shrugged,

"Come on, let's get back inside," Evan suggested. Lasky nodded, and Evan led the way back inside.

* * *

Lasky, Evan, Marika, and the SPARTANS were somewhere else, while Ben and Elmer had walked back to the room. Ben pulled the door to the room where the group had interrogated Lasky open, to reveal a horrifying scene:

Mike was sitting at the table, eating Cap'n Crunch. Cassie was hogtied and hanging from the ceiling, Caleb was fanning Mike with a trash can lid, Lena and Adisyn were bowing down and saying 'All hail Mike' over and over again, and Sammy was nowhere to be seen.

"What. Happened. Here," Ben asked in a terrified voice.

"I took charge," Mike replied.

"All hail Mike. All hail Mike."

"Where's Sammy?" Elmer asked.

"In here," a muffled voice called from a nearby trash can.

"All hail Mike. All hail Mike."

"He wasn't submitting to my obvious authority, so we locked him away," Mike said airily.

"What actually happened?" Ben asked.

"All hail Mike. All hail Mike."

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?" Elmer yelled. Lena and Adisyn stopped chanting.

"Well, we kind of fought to see who would lead," Mike replied, "and I won."

"Hmmm mmm hmmm hmmmm," Cassie complained.

"What was that?" Mike asked.

"Hmmm mmm hmmm hmmmm!"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you, please speak up," Mike teased.

"Alright, Mike," Ben said. "Please release your victims from their bondage, or you'll have to fight me, a Silencer."

"Alright, fine," Mike said. Caleb collapsed in relief.

"Can we at least leave Cassie?" Mike requested. Ben thought about it for a moment.

"You know what? Sure," Ben decided.

"MMMMMMMM! MMMMMMM!" Cassie yelled.

Ben pulled the lid of the trash can, and started pulling Sammy out. Moments later, he popped out, panting. Immediately, he lunged towards Mike, but he was caught by Ben before he could get anywhere.

"You cockaloruming, mooncalfing, lickspittling, smellfungusing, snollygostering, ninnyhammering, mumpsimusing, milksopping, hobbledehoying, pettifoggering, saltimbancoing, smell-feast!" he exclaimed.

"Now wait just a minute you, them's fightin' words!" Mike said leaning over him.

"Yeah, them's fightin' words!" Sammy said now leaning towards Mike (just barely, because Ben was still holding him).

"I dashed you step across this line!"

"Ima' steppin!" Sammy replied, trying to step, but Ben was still holding him.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Cassie yelled from the corner.

"Listen, Sammy," Mike said calmly, pulling out some chocolate. "Do you know what this is? This is Hershey's Chocolate."

Sammy tried to lunge for it, but Ben held him back again.

"I'll give this to you, if you promise not to attack me when Ben lets you go," Mike said.

"I promise!" Sammy exclaimed greedily.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" Mike asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Sammy agreed.

"Okay, let him go," Mike said. Ben let Sammy go, and Mike gave him the chocolate. Sammy ate it in less than a second, and started panting like a dog who had just gotten an amazing treat.

"Alright, let's go," Mike said, walking out the door. Sammy followed him.

" M!" Cassie called desperately from the corner.

"This is revenge for Last Time," Ben said dramatically, and walking out (though not before he shut the door and locked it).

* * *

 **Meanwhile, Up on the Bridge**

The awakened civilians had been sent down to find quarters, and all the military personnel were up on the Bridge. Evan and Marika had been permitted to come up to the Bridge as well, to watch the process of the Infinity's rejuvenation.

"Alright, everyone, take your positions," Lasky commanded. "I'm waking up Roland."

He hit a blue button on a control panel, and a yellow holographic figure appeared. He was wearing a bomber jacket and old flight goggles, and he started when he saw everyone looking at him.

"What? Where am I?" the little guy said in fright.

"Cool it, Roland," Lasky commanded. "You're where you were before we crashed."

"Oh, right," Roland said.

"Can you tell me what happened, why we crashed?" Lasky asked.

"Well, I think I remember entering Earth's orbit," Roland decided. "Then, this big green ship, circular shaped, gliding towards us. I thought it was a human ship: otherwise, I would've blasted it. But it turned sideways, and shot this big metal rod at the ship. And that's all I remember. And who are these people?"

Lasky turned towards the two friends. "Meet Evan Walker and Marika Parish. They're the ones who woke us up. Evan and Marika, meet Roland. He's the shipboard AI."

"Ooh, an AI," Marika remarked. "How cool."

"Anyways, enough of these pleasantries," Lasky continued. "Can you restore power?"

"Hold on," Roland said, then his little hologram vanished. About three seconds passed, then all the lights turned on. The computer screens flashed to life, and the humming of life support kicked back into gear. The soldiers and crew members on the bridge cheered, hugged, or expressed their joy in some other way. Roland reappeared, beaming.

"The distress signal will have called any UNSC by now," he said. "We'll be able to wait them out."

The bridge went completely silent.

"Distress signal?" Lasky said quietly. "Roland, shut off the [censored] distress signal."

"Why?" Roland asked confusedly. "Don't you want the UNSC to help?"

"Don't you get it?" Lasky yelled. "There _is_ no UNSC! Shut off the distress signal!"

"Alright, I'm on it," Roland said. He screwed up his eyes in concentration, then opened them. "It's off," he said.

The crew sighed in relief.

"May I ask why the distress signal is such a big deal?" Marika asked curiously.

"Because," Lasky said, "it could attract unwanted visitors. We'll just have to hope nothing shows up."

There was silence for a moment.

"We've got movement!" a technician yelled from his computer. Lasky ran over to see: a red dot was edging closer and closer towards a blue blip, which Evan supposed must have represented the Infinity.

Then, a massive _WU-WUMP_ rippled through the ship. The lights flickered for a moment, before they returned to their normal state.

Lasky ran over to the large window, followed by Evan and Marika. They looked through, only to see an intimidating sight: there were seven small bursts of purple light in the distant sky. Emerging from them were ships; though they appeared to be tiny pinpricks of blackness in the night sky, Evan realized that they must have been a lot bigger than they looked.

The door to the bridge opened with a crash: Mike, Sammy, Ben, Elmer, Lena, and Caleb charged in.

"What was that noise?" Caleb asked loudly.

"It can't be," another tech said. "It's not-"

"The Covenant," Lasky said grimly. "I want all hands on deck,: we need to figure out how to defend this ship. How long do we have till they find us?"

"Since we've shut off the distress beacon, they'll need to scan the planet visually," a tech said, walking towards Lasky. "I'd say we have thirty minutes till they spot our ship."

"Can the Infinity take them in a space battle?" asked Lasky.

"The Covenant didn't send a big force after us," the same tech replied. "We can take seven Covenant Destroyers pretty easily. It's really just a question of getting off the ground before they can glass us."

"Kyle, how long will it take to repair the ship?" Lasky asked.

"I'd have to study the schematics, but it sure as [censored] won't be thirty minutes," Kyle replied.

"Alright," Lasky said resignedly. "Then we'll need a distraction."

"I think we can provide one," Evan volunteered.

* * *

"The Grand Canyon," Evan said dramatically, spreading out a map of the canyon. "It's easily defensible: it's not so far from the ship that we won't be able to get there in time, and it's not so close that the Covenant will see the ship when they head to the Canyon."

"Alright, what's your plan?" Lasky asked.

"Send most- if not all- of your combatants to the Canyon," Evan asserted. "Some of us will go with you to help. The people at the Canyon will take the distress beacon, and immediately reactivate it upon arriving at the Canyon. The Covenant will make a beeline for us, and we'll distract them until you can fix the ship. Once it's fixed, we head back: those of us who need to get back on the ship can go back and board. Then, the ship flies away and destroys all of those Covenant Destroyers."

Lasky thought for a moment, before he nodded. "It's a start," he conceded. "But you haven't mentioned any ideas for the actual _defending_ of the Canyon."

"Woah, woah, woah," Evan said, putting his hands up. "Listen, I may be good at strategy, but I don't mess around with tactics. Marika can take care of that. In fact, it might be a good idea to put her in charge of the whole operation."

"Why, thank you!" Marika exclaimed.

"I didn't mean that as a compliment," Evan muttered darkly. "By the way, where's Cassie?"

"Oh, ya, that…." Ben said. "She's kind of hogtied at the moment. Literally."

"And the babies?" asked Evan, whose face was getting redder by the minute.

"They're with her," Ben said, his voice getting quieter and quieter.

"Get down there," Evan said furiously, "and bring them up!"

"Yessir!" Ben said frantically, scrambling out of the room at ludicrous speed.

"Well, we'll need to prepare," Lasky said. "It'll only take ten or so minutes to get to the Canyon, but we still need to get ready to go down there. You won't have much time."

"We'll figure it out," Evan said. "Let's get a move on before we get vaporized."

* * *

"I hereby promote you to the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer," Lasky said, pinning a badge of rank on Marika's new UNSC uniform.

Everyone was getting prepped for what was sure to be a devastating conflict. Lena was with Kyle, getting educated about how the process of repairing the Infinity would go. Sammy was sitting in a corner with Adisyn and the babies, looking sad and neglected. Marika was getting a rank and essentially being put in charge of the entire Grand Canyon Operation (she would still be commanding from the ship). Everyone else was getting the weapons and gear orientation from the shipboard sergeant.

"Okay, you'll be in contact with your troops over a series of intercoms," Lasky said, leading Marika into a tactical control room. "The Sergeant will be your CO on the ground, and he'll be updating your tactical map every few minutes, to make sure you can command effectively."

"Okay," Marika said.

Lasky pointed at a screen, which flickered to life. It showed several different types of soldiers, carrying different weapons.

"The troops you'll be working with are forty-five soldiers," Lasky said. A model of soldier lit up. "They typically use mid-to-long range precision weapons, DMRs, as we call them.

"You'll also have twenty marines." Another soldier lit up. "They'll be using fully automatic or burst weapons, and are typically more useful on the attack than on the defensive.

"Excluding SPARTANS, you'll also have eleven ODSTs, heavily armoured Shock Troopers who will be very useful to lead attacks and defenses. Sergeant Johnson is very useful, also: he was a part of the ORION Program, a precursor to the SPARTAN Program that involved basic genetic modification. He's a battle-hardened warrior, and he'll do you well.

"Of course, you'll have the SPARTANS of Blue Team: Kelly, Fred, Linda, and John. Half of your little friend group will also be down there, fighting."

"Okay," Marika said breathlessly.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it," Lasky said, walking out of the room.

Marika sat down, confusedly. After a few minutes of chaos and confusion, she decided to research the opposition. She pulled up the files on the Covenant, and began to read.

* * *

Lena was standing next to Kyle at a computer, looking at a schematic of the Infinity.

"As you can see, the damage is concentrated around the bottom of the ship," Kyle said. "We can make most of the repairs in space, but we'll have to fix some stuff before we take off."

"Alright," Lena said, massaging her new Corporal's badge. "What do we need to do?"

"We need to get the ship off the ground, essentially propping it up so that we can access the hold," Kyle said. "We can then work on repairing the ship's superstructure- cross beams and things that hold the bottom together. The final step is to reattach the plates to the bottom, to make it vacuum-proof. With Roland's help, this will take about two hours."

"Alright," Lena replied. "We'll be working on this, then?"

"Yes, we will," Kyle replied. "You're not going to the front."

"What about you?"

"In my day, I was the best of the best, but certain, er, misfortunes, made me restricted, to not lead or be in the front lines at the start of a fight."

"That must be terrible, what happened?"

"Well, bottom line, I merely obeyed orders from our leader, but the UNSC didn't see it that way. They suspended me from fighting."

"What do you mean, obeyed orders?"

"Our team, ghost team, was to take down a covenant carrier, which would give us an advantage in the game. We had been part of an elite program, Super Spartan. It gave us twice the strength of a normal spartan. We had better armor, and ours was specially made, it had adaptive camouflage built into it. We took out the bridge with ease, set the self destruct, but getting off, heh, that was harder. We fought bravely. We had four members. We lost

* * *

Cassie, Evan, Ben, Mike, Caleb, and Elmer were introduced to the full weapon stockpile of the UNSC by Sergeant Major Averie Johnson.

"So, you guys are here to help us kick some Covenant $#! Is that right?" Johnson asked them.

"Yes sir." Elmer replied.

"Well, you're not going to be able to do that with your rinky dink 21st century weapons, you need to pack a punch!" Johnson told them.

"Yes sir, if that's ok," Evan told him.

"Heh, any chance we got against them, is a chance," he told him as he opened the door to the weapons stockpile. There were walls and walls of guns. They saw rifles, snipers, pistols, rockets, grenades, and more.

"What are all these?" Cassie asked.

"Our weapons, sorry if they don't look familiar to ya, but these work really well. And who knows, if you actually kill one of them $ !^#%$ , you might get to use one of their weapons," he told them.

"Really, awesome!" Caleb exclaimed as he reached for a weapon, but Johnson grabbed his arm.

"Not so fast, first, I need to explain what each one is, and how to use it. He prepared his voice by taking a deep breath and then, he started talking and pointing out each weapon.

"Rocket launcher, Grenade Launcher, Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Magnum Pistol, Shotgun, grenades, SMG, DMR, chaingun turret, Rocket Pod, Gauss Turret, SPARTAN Laser, Hydra Launcher, SAW, and Railgun," Johnson finished.

"Whoa!" Ben said in awe, walking down the aisle of weapons.

"There's, there's so many, which ones do we choose?" Caleb asked.

"Just remember your favorite guns, and then pick the one most like it," Evan told everyone. They all looked at each gun, looking closely.

"Literally all of us, except Sammy, use an Assault Rifle," Cassie noted. Evan ignored her.

Ben chose a SAW, Cassie took the battle rifle, Caleb took the assault rifle, Evan took the gauss turret, and Elmer chose two magnums on his legs, and he carried two smgs. Each member had two grenades. Cassie saw Evan take out a giant bag.

"What are you doing with that?" she asked him.

"We need to stock up, get weapons for everyone else," he told her. Evan took two of every gun and tons of ammo. He then gave the bag to Caleb.

"K, everyone take a magnum or one of those other pistols, and I'll take another turret." He grabbed a chaingun turret, and began to pull it. Meanwhile, Johnson pulled a Battle Rifle from the wall. He slapped a clip into the receiver, slid a new scope onto the rail, and attacked a suppressor to the front. He even added a laser dot.

"We're heading off for the Canyon in three minutes, we should get there just in time!" Johnson said. "Now, report to the bay, and board your Pelicans."

"Pelicans?" Evan asked. "What the crap is a Pelicans?"

"You'll see when you get down there," Johnson said. "Now, follow me!"

* * *

The Pelicans, as it turned out, were big, weaponized, transport planes. Cassie's group boarded their Pelican. Cassie set down her stuff and sat in the pilot seat. She felt the grip in her hands, easing into the feel. Her group was the VIP group: Sergeant Johnson, Blue Team, all of the TAAO Gang (at least the ones going into battle), and a few marines. Ben sat behind her as co-pilot, and everyone else just sat in the back with the marines.

"You ready for this kid?" one marine asked Elmer.

"You have no idea," Elmer replied.

"No idea of what?" he asked him.

"Of what I've been through, I'm the most ready combatant for this mission, even more so than you," Elmer said. His voice was always low and deep. The sounds of despair and anger in his mouth, and the looks in his eyes. The scars never had, and never will go away.

"Ok then, we'll just see about that," the marine said to him, and then turned his head and whispered something to another marine next to him. The two laughed, and Elmer and Caleb just looked at eachother.

"Launching in one minute, and counting," Lasky said over the comms.

"Move it out, move it out, move it out!" he shouted to the soldiers as he boarded a pelican with the marines. Evan was on that Pelican as well. Just before the Pelican door shut behind them, Evan saw the Master Chief, Blue Team, and their squad of a few Marines entering the Pelican.

"Ok, Marines, listen up, we're gonna go, kick these %& !#$ &, and we're gonna get some. Are you lean?"

"Yeah!"

"Are you mean?"

"Yeah!"

"What are you?"

"Lean Mean Marines!"

"Get on the ready line marines, get some today!" Johnson said as he entered into the seat behind the Master Chief.

"You ready sergeant?" he asked Johnson.

"Yes sir, let's go get some!"

"All Pelicans, launch now," Lasky said over the microphone.

"You sure you know how to fly this thing?" Ben asked Cassie.

"Yea, pretty sure at least, It's just a chopper back home."

"Maybe, but this thing is from the future, how well will you do?"

"As well as I can, and we're about to find out!" Cassie said as she pulled the throttle. There was jolt as the craft lifted up off the ship. Marika hit the throttle and followed the Pelicans in front of her.

"Yaaahoooo!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Slow down a bit man!" Ben complained.

"No, I'm just following the flow of the ships."

Down in the passenger area, Elmer and Caleb didn't feel anything.

"Are you sure we're even moving?" Caleb asked.

"Yep, these things, they're so smooth, you can't feel a thing," the marine exclaimed.

"Cool, how fast we going?" Elmer asked.

"Don't know, I'll go check," Caleb replied as he buckled out of his seat. He easily walked over to the ladder and climbed up. He poked his head out and saw the other Pelicans traveling in front of them.

"What are you doing up here?" Ben asked Caleb.

"Elmer wanted to know how fast we're going," Caleb told him.

"Ok, we're going six-hundred miles per hour," Cassie told him.

"Marika? How do you even know how to fly one of these?"

"I just do, it's all in the feel of the ship ya know?" Cassie told him looking at him.

"Marika, keep your eyes on the sky!" Ben demanded.

"I'm, fine Ben, gosh, I can do this you know," as she turned her head back.

"You better get back below," Ben ordered Caleb.

"Yes Ben," Caleb climbed back down. "We're going about six-hundred miles per hour," he told Elmer as he strapped back in.

"Really? That's a bit faster than I ever intended to go," Elmer replied, looking a bit nervous.

"Definitely faster than Ben ever wanted to go," Caleb replied.

"Meaning?" Elmer asked.

The sounds of Ben swearing echoed from the cockpit.

"Ah," Elmer replied.

"STOPPING!" Cassie screamed from the front seat. The Pelican suddenly lurched forward: one stupid marine who was standing up flew across the bay and into the cockpit. Caleb could hear Ben yelling at him.

"Oh muh gord," Evan said, looking clearly disoriented.

"Cassie, why you doing this?" Ben asked.

"It's not time to stop yet!" Johnson yelled. "We're not even at the Canyon!"

"Breaker breaker 109," Cassie called from the front seat. "VIP Pelican is initiating landing sequence!"

"We're not VIP Pelican, you dingbat!" Johnson yelled. "We're Calling Sign Cauliflower!"

"I prefer VIP Pelican," Cassie called back to him. "It sounds cooler. All the cool people are on it!"

"Not all the cool people, we've forgotten Morgan, he's cool," Elmer said.

"Yeah, but he hasn't done anything important ever," Johnson said.

"Don't be so sure about that," Linda interrupted. "Morgan was, and still is one of the most skilled, strongest, and bravest SPARTANS ever, the UNSC just never gave him a second chance."

"Second chance for what?" Evan asked, but he never got a reply.

The Pelican lurched forward, cutting off any other conversation. Evan screamed like a little girl as he fell out of his seat. Caleb grabbed onto a handlebar on the roof: he saw Elmer flying past into the front seat.

"Dagnabit, Elmer!" Ben yelled. "Oh, wait- that felt good. Pop my back again with your foot."

"To do that, I would have to go back into the bay, jump out of the seat, and fly back into the cockpit!" Elmer screeched. "And that's kind of impossible with Cassie flying like a nutjob!"

"YAHOOOOOOOOO!" Cassie yelled.

"( &*(#Y^*%^ *&^%*&(& ^*&$) &%*(#Y$*&#^$&#&*$&*#$* &*($#&*($& (*$&#*(&)$*( #&)$*#&$*(# &)yourbutt$* #(7$*%^&*&(*()*()&*&^&$%^#$%%&**(&*^&%$%%&&*(!" Johnson screamed.

Meanwhile, all the SPARTANS were just standing there casually. Or were they?

"Alright, get your [censored] together," Frederick said.

"I've got no more [censored] _to_ get together in the first place!" Evan replied.

"C'mon gang, we've got a job to do here," Elmer said as he clambered from the cockpit to the bay. "Open the door Cassie!"

"Righto!" she replied as she opened the door.

"What the $^ ! Are you doing?!" Johnson asked him as Elmer grabbed a parachute.

"Getting a head start!" Elmer yelled as he cannonballed out of the ship. He then deployed his parachute, and landed in less than thirty seconds.

"Did he just jump?" Cassie yelled from the cockpit.

"Yea, what a crazy kid," a marine, the one who hated on him earlier, told her.

"I'd better go after him," Caleb said, strapping on his own parachute. He deployed it, and was just getting ready to jump, when Evan grabbed his shirt.

"I'm not letting you jump yet!"

"Why not?" Caleb asked.

"I have my reasons, you are not jumping, do I make myself CLEAR?" Evan asked.

Suddenly, Cassie came up behind Evan and pushed him out. Caleb jumped out as Evan grabbed Cassie's hand, and pulled her over the edge.

* * *

Inside the Pelican, there was silence for a moment.

"Who's flying the plane?" Chief asked quietly. There was a pause for a moment.

"Holy [censored], we're all gonna die!" a marine yelled.

"Not me!" Ben yelled as he jumped out the Pelican, just so he could do something interesting for once in his miserable life, but he forgot to put on a parachute.

"Get in the cockpit!" Johnson yelled, running through the door. He quickly seized the controls and righted the Pelican, just in time to save it from it's fate.

* * *

Meanwhile, Evan, Cassie, and Caleb were rocketing towards Earth.

"OOOOOOOOH MYYYYYYYY GOOOOOOD!" Evan was screaming.

"[censored], [censored], [censored]," Cassie was yelling.

"Everyone, spread out your wings!" Caleb yelled. "Flap them, you might be able to fly!"

Evan, Cassie, and Caleb all started flapping their wings. Their fall started getting gradually slower, but they were still falling extremely fast.

"It's not working!" Caleb yelled.

"I can't hold you up on my own," Evan yelled. "So, I'll see ya later."

With that, Evan let go of Cassie and Caleb. Caleb couldn't believe his eyes: Evan's arms were stretched out, and he was gliding towards Earth.

"Evan, you son of a [censored]!" Cassie yelled, detaching from Caleb and gliding after her "loving" husband. Caleb's parachute suddenly came into effect, yanking him out of his fall with a passion.

He slowly drifted towards the ground, watching Evan and Cassie slowly floating to the ground.

"Um, what is going on?" Elmer asked, running over.

"I think there was another bug in the Matrix," Caleb replied, as Evan and Cassie landed next to them.

"Let's go team!" Evan yelled into the air as he landed.

"Which team?" Cassie asked him when she came down.

"THE team!" he yelled into the sky again.

"Was that fun?" Elmer asked.

"Yes," Evan said, giving Cassie a quick kiss. Cassie writhed.

"AAAAAAAHHH!" they heard from above. Everyone looked up to see Ben falling from the sky. He hit the ground, and a wave of dust rolled up from under him. He immediately jumped up, looking around wildly.

"Where am I? Did I miss anything?" Ben asked frantically.

Suddenly, three kids instantly emerged from some blue portal. They were all inside a red 80's telephone booth, and they were talking.

"Um, I don't think Cheet is here, these kids are too old," one said.

"Sam, you made the wrong correction!" one yelled at him.

"Hey, I'm not perfect Izzy," he told him.

"Well, we'd better go back, see ya chumps!" one said as they disappeared again.

"Okay, some weird [censored] is going down," Evan said. "I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see that."

"He called us chumps!" Caleb yelled.

"Don't worry bro, we'll get them back, eventually!" Elmer said, hands on his hips, looking to the sky.

"Is this supposed to mean something?" Ben asked.

"Um, er, Um, er, Um, er, I don't think so," Evan told him.

"Maybe they can help us in some way," Cassie suggested.

"I don't think so, besides, we have no idea where they came from any how," Elmer said.

"But they called us chumps!" Caleb yelled.

"So?" Cassie asked.

"So they called us chumps!" Caleb yelled again.

"And, this is supposed to mean?"

"They called us CHUMPS!"

"How long will he go on like this Elmer?" she asked him.

"Oh, I'd say until he gets his revenge," he replied, staring at Caleb.

"Chumps, Chumps, Chumps, Chumps," Caleb kept mumbling to himself as he walked back and forth.

"All I can say is, I'm never gonna be surprised by anything ever again," Evan said. "Throw me a surprise party for my birthday, jump out of a closet with a machete, you will not surprise me. There's literally nothing you can do."

"Boo," Cassie said to Evan. He yelled in fright, jumping about sixteen feet in the air.

"Okay, okay, guys, we need to organize!" Elmer decided.

"Organization?" Caleb asked. "Since when have we ever been organized?"

"Since we killed that giant Alien a couple months back," Ben replied.

"Question point?" Evan said.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard the Pelican, thing were in a much more calm state… so calm, in fact, that nobody was talking. Everyone was completely silent.

Johnson landed on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God we're out of _this_ death machine!" Johnson said, "and that that teenager isn't driving anymore!"

"She's not a teenager," one of the marines said. "She's actually twenty years old."

"How do you know that?" asked Johnson.

"Um…. fan magazines?" the marine said carefully, holding up a TAAO Gang Fan Magazine.

"Now, where the [censored] did you get that?" Johnson asked.

"..." the marine replied.

"Wherever you got that from, get me a copy," Johnson replied.

"Me too," said Chief.

"Me three!" Kelly chimed (remember the chiming? The chiming has returned! A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!).

"Alright, ya dinguses, get out of the bird and get to work!" Linda yelled. All of the marines scrambled out of the Pelican, to see the TAAO Gang arguing about who should get Mike's box of Cocoa Puffs.

"Well, I stole it, so it should be mine!" Ben said angrily.

"But you also squished it when you fell, so it should be someone else's," Evan replied.

"Why don't we give it back to Mike?" Cassie suggested, not wanted to inflame the wrath of Mike again.

"Because he's all the way back at the base," Evan replied.

"How about this," Johnson suggested, walking over to them. " _I_ get the Cocoa Puffs-" he snatched the box out of Ben's hands, "and you set up the distress beacon! We need to attract the Covenant sometime this week!"

"You watched Bird Box recently?" Evan asked.

"NO!" Johnson yelled. "Who wants to watch Bird Box anyways? Besides, I've been in cryosleep for the pas who-knows-how-long."

"Okay fine," Evan replied. "We'll set up the distress beacon, and we won't mention Bird Box again. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Johnson replied, and with that, the weirdness ended- for now.

"Ok then gang, grab the beacon and let's head out!" Elmer ordered.

"How are we supposed to do that, when we have less than a minute?!" Fred panicked waving his arms frantically.

"Mongeese and gungeese!" Chief ordered as he drove up a gungoose, Linda on the back.

"Actually, it's pronounced…." Cassie started.

"There's no time!" Caleb panicked as he hopped on Elmer's.

"Ahh! Hurry!" Evan ordered to everyone.

"Move it out!" Johnson ordered as they all rushed to get on the mongeese and gungeese

That's when Elmer realized…

"Why are we helping these people, anyways?" he asked Evan. "We've got limited time until the Matrix explodes, or implodes, or whatever Matrixes do when they break. We need to get to Marble Falls, and find those Red Pills."

"Because, it doesn't matter right now! Let's go!" as he revved his own mongoose with Cassie on the back, and they were off.

"C'mon Elmer, step on it!" Caleb demanded.

Elmer waited for some reason until they were in back, and then he took off.

"What the heck, we want to be in front man!" Caleb complained.

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

"What kind of plan?"

"I don't know, it just sounded cool," Elmer replied.

"I'm curious as to why we don't just set up the beacon right here," Linda remarked. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"That's a great idea, let's get on it!" Johnson yelled. "Whose got the beacon?"

"I've got the beacon," Chief replied. He reached into his handy-dandy Mary Poppins style infinite pocket and pulled a massive distress beacon.

"What are you waiting for, turn it on!" Ben yelled.

"Alright, everyone, stop the geese!" Evan commanded.

"It's pronounced gooses!" Cassie interrupted.

"I DON'T CARE!" Evan screamed. "Just stop!"

Everyone stopped short.

"Set up the thing!" Fred yelled. Chief immediately started setting it up as fast as he could. The rest of Blue Team was coming to help him out.

"Alright, alright, turn it on!" Johnson commanded.

Master Chief hit the big red button. The machine turned on with a big, whirring sound.

"Alright, get ready, they'll be coming pretty quick, now," Johnson said.

Everyone turned around, picking up their guns and standing back to back. They were looking around for the approaching enemy. They could be coming at any moment.

Then, with a blast of sound, seven massive purple ships appeared: they were roundly shaped, with lights shining and big guns looking intimidating.

They were heading right for the gang.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Infinity, the other half (or some fraction) of the TAAO Gang were having an adventure- though it was less chaotic, it definitely had some importance on getting the Infinity off the ground.

"Ok, first, we have to repair the hull," Kyle told Lena.

"Right, so, how are we supposed to do that, if we can't even get the stupid thing off the ground?" Lena asked him.

"Ah, you see, just about a month after my probation, I created these amazing hover jacks, one can lift ten-million tons of weight, and we can raise it as high as we want. Once the ship is up, we can deploy the landing gear."

"Cool, so, how do we set those up, when we can't even get it off the ground in the first place?"

"Ok, Roland, you there?" he asked into his com.

"Yes sir, what do you need?" Roland asked.

"It's time my good man."

"Right then, it's time."

"Time for what now?" Lena asked them.

Suddenly, Lena felt a jerk, and then she felt like they were moving up.

"What's going on?" Lena asked Morgan.

"Roland's using the falcons to carry it up a small amount, so we can actually put the jacks in."

"Ah, how long will that take?"

"Well, the dirt had grown into the Infinity much, so, it should take about half an hour, especially because the ship weighs a lot of poundage," Kyle replied.

"How much, exactly?" Mike asked, running over.

"Nine-hundred-seventy-million metric tonnes," Kyle answered, even spelling "tonnes" the metric way, for authenticities' sake.

"I can't believe you actually spelled "tonnes" the metric way," Lena replied. "I would have spelled it normally."

"Hey, who's to say that the not-so-metric way is the normal way?" Sammy asked, running over. "That's racist!"

"You don't even know what racist means," Lena said, patting Sammy's head affectionately.

"Sure I do," Sammy replied. "It means showing or feeling discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or believing that a particular race is superior to another."

"How do you know that?" Lena asked.

"Mike told me," he replied.

Lena turned towards Mike. Mike gulped: he was afraid that she was gonna go rage.

"I won't go rage at you, Mike," Lena said, smiling.

"Oh, thank goodness," Mike replied, relieved.

"I'll just get Cassie to do it when she gets back," Lena replied.

It was the one time in Mike's life when he wished that one of his friends would die.

* * *

Returning, to TAAO: RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Elmer yelled.

"Or drive for them," Evan suggested.

They drove like mad men (and women, there were those). The Covenant ships were gaining, until they weren't. They stopped at the beacon point. Caleb looked behind him.

"Help!" Caleb yelled at Elmer.

"What!?" Elmer asked him, still looking forward.

"They've launched ghosts to chase after us!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, right."

"WHAT! You aren't worried!?"

"Nope, now it's time for plan diversion!" Elmer said as he steered off.

"What the frick are you doing!?"

"Diverting!" Elmer exclaimed, as he kept steering off.

"I'm scared," Caleb said in a not-very-scared voice.

"Don't be man, remember, the Force is with you, always!" Evan yelled in the distance.

"Remember that one time?" Elmer said. "We were younger?"

"Yeah?"

"And we played that prank on Sarah and Edward?"

"Oh yeah, and we almost got in lots of trouble, but they never found out who did it!"

"Anyway, let's go!" Elmer said as he hit the boosters. Half of the Ghosts went on them, while the other half of them stayed with the rest of the gang.

"I don't see how this helps us!" Caleb yelled at him.

"Don't worry, you'll see!" Elmer had superior driving skills, he quickly swered the gungoose around. He put the wheels into full reverse as he fired several shots at the leading ghosts. It blew up and damaged some of the others, delaying them for a moment.

"What happened?" Caleb asked him ad Elmer swerved back around, but then he saw. "Nice shot!"

"Caleb, I need to to set your two grenades down on the ground right now!"

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, just do it!"

Caleb armed them and just dropped them. The gungoose drove away from them, while the ghosts came closer.

"Get ready!" Caleb yelled at Elmer.

"For what?" Elmer asked taking a quick peek at Caleb's back. Suddenly, the grenades blew up just as the ghost passed over them. The front one, (the most damaged) flipped over and blew up. It landed on another which sent it spiraling into a hard rock. They both exploded in a fury of plasma.

"Woo!" Caleb yelled with a fist pump.

"Nice shot!"

"But I didn't shoot anything!"

"Just go with it man," Elmer said not looking behind him.

"Now what?" Caleb asked him.

"I'm driving towards the edge of the Grand Canyon!"

"Ok then….WHAT!"

"Yeah, it's the only way!"

"We'll fall more than a mile down, and then we'll die!"

"No we won't, I'll drive it over, I need you to jump off, I will too, and you need to catch me!" the mongoose was less than a minute away from the edge.

"They're gaining!" Caleb gasped. Then gungoose was almost over the edge, and the ghosts were less than ten feet away.

Elmer's eyes were full of glee. He would once again be a hero. Maybe not **the** hero, but he would be one.

"Now!" Elemer yelled at Caleb as Caleb jumped off. He did a somersault, quickly recovering. He ran right over to where Elmer had just drove the mongoose off. He jumped off right as the back wheels came off, Caleb catching him and pulling him up.

"Duck!" Elmer yelled as the Ghosts drove right over them. They all went down, but two weird-looking aliens with blue swords jumped off.

"Foolish human!" one yelled at him, taking a battle stance.

"I have only one thing to say to you," Elmer started. The alien cocked his head. "$&!# you #$!#$%! !" Caleb fired his AR at one, while Elmer fired his magnums at them.

Blue light pulsed around the mysterious alien's body as Elmer's bullets hit it. It charged, wielding it's giant, angular sword. It swung with a vengeance, slicing down towards the young man: but he MISSED! Do you know why? It's because of the other alien! He accidentally tripped his comrade, who fell on the ground stupidly.

Caleb sprayed bullets into the first alien's head. It screeched and scrotched as it died. The other alien lunged at Caleb, but Elmer tripped it. It fell, and Caleb sprayed bullets into its head. It screeched and scrotched and as it died. Then, they died, and Caleb did not care one bit.

"HA HA!" Caleb shouted. "I don't care one bit!"

"Well, I guess I don't either, but we have a job to do," Elmer told him.

"What now?"

"We have two choices, one, we can hike down the canyon and try to repair something, or two, we can just walk the long way."

"First off all, the canyon is more than a mile deep, so that's out of the question, we might as well just walk for it, it's the best option right now."

"Right you are, we can do it, we're the tough men of the group. Never mind that we're only thirteen and fifteen. We can do anything!" Elmer and Caleb both stared into the horizon.

"Wait, don't you have a radio?" Caleb asked Elmer.

"Oh yeah, it's right….oh no!"

"What?"

"I dropped it into the canyon."

"Well, let's just get started walking," and the two friends began their journey across Arizona.

* * *

Meanwhile, the remaining covenant ghosts were hot on the tails of the rest of the gang.

"How come we don't have any of those?" Evan asked Johnson, who was in the back of the gungoose in front of him.

"They're not ours, Covenant Ghosts, hovercrafts," he replied.

"And they're gaining!" Cassie declared. "Step on it!"

"Here we go!" Ben said aggressively. He pulled out his SAW and gunned his mongoose. He zipped ahead, getting closer and closer to a tall ridge.

"Ben, what are you doing?" Johnson yelled.

"Taking the initiative!" Ben yelled back. He hit the ridge, sending his goose flying upward. Ben jumped up, turning around and firing his SAW into the nearest Ghost. The stream of bullets detonated upon impact with the Ghost, sending it spinning into a rock and exploding.

"I thought the Answer-Variety SAWs were kept on lockdown!" Fred said.

"I thought they were too, must have handed him the wrong one," Johnson said. "All I know is that he deserves a promotion!"

But Ben wasn't done destroying yet. He landed hard, whipping his vehicle around and charging towards one of the Ghosts.

"He's gonna get himself killed!" Evan said loudly.

"Don't worry about me!" Ben yelled. "I'm gonna slay these guys!"

With that, he jumped off of his mongoose, landing on top of the Ghost. The alien creature that was driving yelled in surprise as Ben ripped it out of it's seat and threw it off to the side, where it was promptly destroyed by Linda's sniper. He dropped into the pilot seat, turning to fire the plasma cannons on the other Ghosts. He opened fire as he swerved, boosted, and crashed others. His destruction was mostly pointed at the elite drivers, since then they could use them. Suddenly, an elite general wielding an energy sword, sliced off the front of the ghost. It exploded and sent Ben tumbling forward in a barrel roll. He stood back up.

"Leave me, I'll be ok!" he yelled to the others, who were already too far away to hear him.

The remaining ghosts had abandoned the rest of the group, and were now circling around Ben and the Elite General.

"Fight me, the winner goes on to live, and if you win, my troops will fall back," the elite taunted Ben.

"As you wish," Ben said. "Here's my answer," and he fired the SAW at him. The bullets were explosive and so powerful, it took only ten seconds before he fell dead.

"Now go!" Ben commanded the ghosts. They continued to circle for a few minutes, Ben just standing in place watching them. They finally decided that Ben was too OP for them, and so they fell back to the carrier.

"YES! I finally did something!" Ben yelled.

* * *

"We need to go save Ben!" Evan declared.

"Why?" asked Cassie. "He was never worth anything, anyways!"

"Hey!" Johnson yelled.

"He saved us," Evan said.

"So did Caleb and Elmer, when we get back, we'll have three VIP awards," the Chief announced.

"Good efendi, so, what now?" Cassie asked.

"We go back to the beacon," Chief said.

"And?" Cassie asked

"And, we just hope that no Covenant are there waiting. If that's so, we'll set up a surprise attack," Johnson ordered.

"And if they are there?" Evan asked turning his gungoose around.

"Well then, we have only one option, we fight," Linda told him as they too turned around.

"Hell, here we come," a marine mumbled.

* * *

In the distance, Ben could see the Grand Canyon.

"Excellent!" he said loudly. "This is the place where we were supposed to go!"

"HEY! BEN!" he heard a voice yelling in the distance. Ben turned to see Elmer and Caleb.

"Oh, hi guys," Ben said. "This is where we were supposed to go, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Elmer said. "So… we're here now."

"Hey, does anyone have any water?" Caleb asked.

There was silence for a moment.

"No," Elmer said.

"Why do you ask?" Ben asked nervously.

"Because I don't have any!" Caleb exclaimed. "And we're in the middle of the desert!"

"Well, then, we have to get some water," Elmer decided.

"There's a river at the bottom of the canyon," Ben remarked. "We should try climbing down."

"To be precise, the Colorado River," Caleb told him pointing his finger up.

"Great idea!" Elmer explained. "Let's go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the big ship….

Marika was holding her head, frustratedly. She had a massive migraine. All her soldiers had split off, willy nilly, all because Cassie was being a little brat, and all sorts of other crap. There _was_ a nice, sophisticated plan, where all the Pelicans would fly to the Grand Canyon and activate the beacon there. But _no!_ Instead, Cassie landed at the complete wrong spot, activated the beacon at the wrong spot, then ended up getting split up. Meanwhile, the other four Pelicans had landed at the widest point of the Grand Canyon's river.

Marika was in contact with the commander of that group, Sergeant Vakeland, and they were setting up proper defenses now.

"Senior Chief Parish," Vakeland said through his headset.

"What is it, Sergeant?" Marika asked.

"Our scanners are detecting three humans scaling the Grand Canyon's cliff," Vakeland replied.

There was silence for a moment.

"What?" Marika asked angrily.

"There are-"

"I heard what you said," Marika said wearily. "Send some guys to recon. They might be some of ours."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Canyon…

Ben, Caleb and Elmer, looked below. Down there was a fast, dangerous, rushing river. Some rapids, so strong, they could rip apart a small boat. Men had tried and failed to journey it, but never succeeded until in the mid 20th century. The rapids looked like as if they had rocks in them, charging through.

"Anyone got any ideas as to how to get down there?" Ben asked Elmer and Caleb.

"Well, what materials do we have?" Elmer asked turning around.

"I have a SAW, the Answer," Ben said.

"To what?" Caleb asked him.

"Hmm?" Ben asked.

"You the answer, and I want to know the answer to what."

"No stupid! That's what the gun is called!"

"Oh, well, I have an assault rifle, and one of them bracelets you can unravel," Caleb said.

"And I have, string, two magnums, two SMGs, two grenades, another bracelet you can unravel, and a First Blood™ knife," Elmer told them.

"Cool, how will all this help us?" Ben wondered aloud.

"Well, I'm the lightest, so I should go down, followed by Caleb, and then you," Elmer told him.

"How?" Caleb asked.

"You and I have the bracelets, we can unravel them, combine them, put one end under some heavy rocks. Then, we can use the string to climb down," he declared.

"That doesn't sound necessarily safe," Ben remarked nervously.

"Don't worry!" Caleb yelled vivaciously. "It'll work _fine_."

"Since when has anything we tried to do worked fine?" Ben asked.

"Um," Elmer said. "That battle with the War Gang?"

"No, your face got mutilated," Ben replied.

Elmer flawlessly glossed over Ben's last comment, and pulled out some string. It was extremely thin, light, and snappable-looking.

"Okay, I'm on Ben's side, now," Caleb said.

"You expect us to climb down the Canyon with _that_?" Ben asked incredulously.

"I know it may not look like much," Elmer said proudly, "but this is super-string. It's much more powerful than a string five times it's thickness."

"How much more powerful, exactly?" Ben asked.

"I'd say about quadruple the strength of a rope five times it's thickness," Elmer replied.

"Let me see that," Ben said. Elmer handed him the super-string.

"Well, I'd say this is made of nylon," Ben said thoughtfully, "and that it's about one-point-six millimeters thick. If it's five times stronger than a one-point-six millimeter-inch nylon rope, I'd say it could hold up one-hundred-ninety-one pounds. And I way two-hundred sixteen."

There was silence for a moment (apart from the crickets).

"Well, how do you propose we climb down?" Elmer asked. "I mean, sure, the super-string might snap, but if we stay up here, we'll thirst to death anyways. Plus, if you fall, your epic Silencer muscles will absorb the impact pretty well."

"Ugh, fine," Ben said. "I'll try the super-string, but if I die, it's your fault," Ben said frustratedly.

* * *

On the Infinity…

Everyone was hanging out around the hull of the crashed Infinity. It didn't look good: the entire thing was mangled beyond any reasonable state of existence, and the entire bottom of the ship was buried in Earth.

"Okay, so we're lifting this thing?" Lena asked.

"Duh," Kyle replied simply, and with absolutely no emotion in his voice (try that. Say "Duh" with no emotion, as seriously as you can, and try to not to laugh while you do it. Leave a review saying if you succeeded or failed).

"Alright," Lena replied, slightly offended.

"Roland, you got those jacks?" Lasky asked into the air.

"Yes, I do," Roland's voice said, coming from inside the Infinity. Sure enough, four large jacks were being wheeled out, strapped onto Scorpion Tanks who had had their turrets removed.

But that's when everything went disastrous. The first tank fell off the ramp, flipping over and crushing the jack on it's back. When it flipped, the second tank apparently reacted, swerving and falling off itself. Both jacks were crushed on the landing. The other two tanks had stopped moving, and seemed to be waiting.

"Oh, [censored] it all," Kyle said, running over to the jacks. "I need a technician!" he yelled. Two marines carrying toolkits ran over.

"What happened?" Lasky asked Roland.

"I'm not sure," Roland replied. "The first one just sorta… stalled out. And since the Infinity was tilted, when it stalled, it couldn't keep traction anymore, and it just fell. I tried to save the second tank a bit _too_ well, and…"

"That's not supposed to happen," Lasky said.

"I know, I just…. I don't know what happened."

"Alright," Lasky replied. "How do they look, Morgan?"

"No good," Kyle replied. "We'll have to work with just the two jacks."

"Well then, we'll have to find a replacement," Mike said, stepping forward. "And I know just what we can use: me!"

"Don't do it, Mike!" Lena immediately yelled. "You might pull a muscle!"

"Really?" Mike said. "I think I can handle it."

"No, you can't," Adisyn said.

"Waaah!" Thomas yelled in agreement.

"Wow, silent baby said something," Lena said in a shocked voice.

"Yes, and I think his speech gave me the energy I need to proceed!" Mike yelled. He walked over to the front of the Infinity, and crouched underneath the front (which was very close to the ground).

"Alright, Kyle!" he yelled. "Get your jacks underneath!"

Kyle complied, directing the two remaining jacks under the Infinity. "Mike!" he yelled. "How do you intend to do this?"

"Don't worry, I have superstrength!" Mike replied.

"Sure," Kyle replied. "I'm gonna need to take you off there!"

"Give him a chance!" Lasky interrupted. Kyle looked at him questioningly, then looked away.

"Alright," Kyle ordered the crews (and Mike). "Three...two...one… lift!"

The two jacks came on with an extremely loud whirring sound. They started pushing upward with massive force, lifting their sides of the ship with ease.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ship, Mike also came on with an extremely loud noise (though it definitely wasn't whirring). He was straining as hard as he could, pushing into the air, and slowly, but surely, raising the ship off of the ground. But then, when the front half of the ship reached the halfway mark in it's raising (three feet: the total required height to start deploying the landing gear was six feet), Mike yelled out loudly.

"I can't lift it any higher!" he yelled. "We need more jacks!"

"I told you you couldn't do it!" Adisyn yelled back.

"Shut up!" Mike yelled. "I've already lifted eight million metric tonnes!"

"I'll help him," Kyle decided. He ran to the other end of the ship at top speed, standing next to Mike.

"You did good," Kyle said, "but it's always okay to ask for help!"

And together, the two men pushed the ship upward with all of their might: the Infinity rose not only to six feet, but all the way to eight.

"Deploy the landing gear!" Lasky commanded. Then, massive feet pushed their way out of the desecrated hull, extending to land hard on the ground. The landing gear pushed the Infinity up to a completely horizontal position, far out of the reach of the two men bench-pressing an entire spaceship. The jacks turned themselves off and the whirring ceased. Mike and Kyle both lay on the ground, coughing and panting.

Cheers went up from the crowd of marines and personnel. The Infinity was raised, and it was time to move onto phase two.

* * *

Chief pulled his Gungoose up short, followed by everyone else. They were parked right next to the distress beacon… they were completely alone. However, something was changed: the corpse of a marine was nailed onto the distress beacon with a large knife.

"Holy [censored]," Evan said, getting off and running over to the marine.

"Who've we lost?" Johnson asked, running over.

"I don't know," Fred said grimly.

"MARINES!" Johnson yelled. "Line up!"

The eight marines who were with them lined up. Johnson inspected them real quick, then turned back to everyone else.

"I remember the faces of every soldier who's ever with me," Johnson said. "We're not missing anyone."

"No, we're not," Chief said. "They had this body, before. Look how cold it is: even a corpse wouldn't be this cold in this kind of weather."

"You're saying?" Cassie asked, not understanding what he was trying to get across.

"This body was in a freezer only a few minutes ago," Chief replied. "The Covies had this body from Reach, or some other battle. This isn't intimidation. It's a message."

"Why do you say that?" Johnson asked curiously.

"The Covenant know that there's no one here," Chief replied, "and they left this cold body to symbolize a cold trail. So they're probably going to search somewhere else."

"Where?" Kelly asked. "Not Phoenix, surely?"

"No, I don't think they're going to Phoenix," Chief replied. "I think that they're heading up the Canyon, the same way we went. They're gonna find the other Pelicans."

"Then we need to get over there- fast," Fred replied.

"Alright, Marines!" Johnson yelled (he always yells). "Let's hit the road!"

* * *

"Elmer, be careful!" Caleb said.

Elmer had stuck the one end of his bracelet under a rock, and had tied the string to his wrists. Ben was holding the bracelet down, and he and the rock worked together.

"I got this!" Elmer said. He started scrambling down the side of the Canyon, slowly unrolling the super string as he went. Caleb was at the top, watching for random hazards along the way.

The first quarter-mile was the easiest part of the climb: however, Elmer had wasted all of his energy getting through that section. When he reached the end of that quarter-mile, he was huffing and puffing.

"I'm gonna take a break, alright?" he yelled up at Caleb.

"Okay," Caleb replied. Elmer had found a nice ledge. He was resting his feet on the ledge, while leaning forward onto the cliff face in front of him.

Elmer sat there for a few minutes, panting and getting his energy back. He took a swig of gatorade and started getting ready to climb down. That was when he got exploratory: he took a glance over his shoulder towards the bottom of the canyon. It seemed to shift and undulate, and Elmer felt a wave of nausea before looking away.

"Alright, Elmer, keep going!" Caleb yelled from above. Elmer nodded, thought Caleb couldn't see it, and took one step off the ledge.

He started slowly sliding down the rock wall, starting the most difficult phase of his life up to that moment: climbing down the next mile of the Grand Canyon.

He huffed and he puffed as he slowly lowered himself from rock face to rock face. Occasionally, chunks of rock would break out from under him, and he would fall short distances before finding his footing again. Caleb would tell him to watch out for stuff, and Elmer would avoid it.

He was only forty feet away from the Canyon floor when it happened.

He had been sweating like crazy, but he paid it no mind. He'd sweated before, and he knew it was just a normal function of the human body. What he didn't know was that the sweat was slowly loosening the well-tied knots he had created around his wrists.

Just while he was resting on a rock face, the knots both came undone, almost simultaneously. He slid, bending over backwards. He was looking down into the Canyon, but from his point of view, it looked as though he was staring upward into a vast crevasse.

Then he slipped off the rock face entirely, falling down quickly.

"ELMER!" Caleb and Ben both yelled in unison. They rushed to the edge, to see Elmer hanging onto a rock shelf, about ten feet below his previous one. Slowly, but surely, he pulled himself upward, getting his feet underneath his body and standing up.

"Caleb!" Elmer yelled. "I'm okay!"

"Oh, thank God!" Caleb said.

"ELMER!" Ben yelled. "LOOK OUT!"

Elmer looked down in horror, to see the rock face he was standing on slowly cracking.

"[censored]!" he said, and boy, it was the loudest curse anyone ever heard.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD!" Caleb said frantically. He was beside himself with fear. If he lost his best friend, he'd have no one left.

Elmer was struggling to get his backpack off of his back. He dropped it on the ground next to him. He reached inside it, pulling out an umbrella.

"ELMER!" Caleb shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"IF I USE A LONG, POINTY OBJECT," Elmer yelled, "I CAN BREAK THE WATER, SO I DON'T SERIOUSLY INJURE MYSELF!"

He bent over cautiously, hooking the umbrella handle around his ankle. The rock face cracked a bit more.

"ELMER!" Ben screamed. "DON'T TRY TO TAKE THE BACKPACK! IT'LL JUST SPEED UP YOUR FALL!"

"ALRIGHT!" Elmer replied. Stupid Marine backpack was useless anyways. He threw his gun and back off the edge, as well as his outer body armor and helmet. He was left standing in fatigues and boots, shedding any unnecessary weight.

"BYEEEE!" Elmer yelled, as they rock face crumbled a bit more. It snapped, and Elmer was left with nothing to stand on.

He rocketed downward towards the river, hands in the air, umbrella sticking out underneath him. A thirty foot drop wasn't _that_ bad, right?

Caleb and Ben watched the small figure hit the Colorado River. His umbrella made contact with the waves, first, breaking the water a bit, but that didn't save his legs.

Elmer felt both of his legs break as they hit the water. He yelled out in pain, which Caleb and Ben could both hear from above.

Elmer was tossed down the rapids, getting slammed into rocks and other river stuff, his body getting tossed around.

"Elmer, try to swim to shore!" Ben cried.

Arms a swingin', useless legs a limpin', Elmer started to cross the deadly river to the edge. He was making progress, but just a few meters from the shore, he was struck by a hollow log.

Elmer bit back a scream of pain, kicking out with his legs. White hot pain coursed through his entire body, especially his legs. But that kick was all he needed: he had launched himself, covering the remaining distance to the shore. His hands found sandy ground, and he pulled himself out of the river, onto shore.

"I'm going down there," Ben said. "He's in a bad shape, I need to get down there."

"Ben, you need to take this slow-" Caleb began.

"Caleb, he's gonna die if I don't get down there fast," Ben said frantically. "Did you see him hit the water? Did you see him get hit by that log?"

"No," Caleb said. "Not everyone has Silencer Supervision."

"Alright, Caleb, I'm getting down there, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Ben grabbed ahold of the super-string, sliding over to the edge of the Canyon. He started pulling it up as fast as he could (pretty fast for a Silencer).

As soon as it was reeled up, Ben tied it around his hand. "See you in Valhalla, kid," he said, before jumping off the edge.

Caleb ran over to the edge, to see an amazing sight: Ben was descending at an alarming rate. He would fly off the cliff face, then swing back towards it, and when he made contact with the rock, he would push off with his feet. He was already halfway down by the time that Caleb reached the edge.

Then, Caleb saw the super-string snapping.

"Ben!" he shouted. "The string's snapping!"

"Okay!" Ben yelled from below. "Detaching!"

Ben yanked his hand out of the super-string not. He flipped several times, before landing in an epic slide down the Grand Canyon cliff face. When he was about twenty feet above the surface, he jumped off the wall and landed on the beach, rolling.

Immediately after landing, Ben ran across the water real quick (didn't know Silencers could run across water? Read The Infinite Sea). Once he reached the other side, he knelt down next to Elmer.

"Oh my God," he said.

Elmer was in a bad shape. Both of his legs were severely broken, lacerations lined his body from all of the rocks, and the right side of his shirt was soaked in a deep, ominous red.

Ben went to work on the unconscious Elmer straight away. Firstly, he used his combat knife to cut away the right side of Elmer's shirt. This revealed a massive wound right where the log hit him.

Ben reached into his backpack, pulling out his roll of bandage. He wrapped several layers of bandaging around the wood, making sure it was tight to prevent unnecessary bloodflow. He then moved on to the two legs. He reached into his pack, grabbing three metal sticks that he usually used to roast Mike's hot dogs. He used the three rods to make one splint for both of his legs, along with a large roll of bandage to prevent Elmer's legs from moving. Finally, Ben used his pack to raise Elmer's legs above his heart (to reduce swelling).

Next order of business: water. Ben pulled out his two empty bottles and his water filter. He ran over to the river, using the filter to make two bottles of (relatively) clean water. He chugged one of them, before crawling over to Elmer. He quickly checked his breathing, then opened his mouth and slowly poured water down his throat.

"Hey!" a deep voice called from Ben's right. Ben turned around to see three UNSC Marines standing and holding Battle Rifles.

"Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Ben Parish," Ben replied. "I was just on the Infinity with you guys."

One of the marines pulled up a microphone and spoke into it. "There's two here. Both with us. One of them hurt. Will return shortly."

"Hey!" Ben said. "My friend is up on that cliff- could you call in a Pelican to get him down?"

The same marine pulled up the mic: "Requesting Pelican for evac."

Ben sighed in relief. Caleb wouldn't have to climb down.

* * *

Marika watched the battlemap diligently. The Covenant forces that attacked Cassie's Pelican were only a scout group, apparently. Covenant pods had dropped everywhere around the distress beacon out for a radius of thirty miles. Now, the Covenant was moving steadily closer to the two ends of the Canyon, as they searched for the Infinity in the Canyon. Eventually, they would find the main group.

Marika could also see that Cassie's Pelican was headed up towards the main Pelican group, and they had left the beacon behind. Pretty soon, all the UNSC forces would be amassed in one place, for better or worse.

"Senior Chief Parish?" Vakeland said over the comms.

"What is it, Sergeant?" Marika asked.

"We've identified the three humans you notified us about," the Sergeant replied.

"Alright, who are they?" Marika asked.

"Elmer Gates, Caleb Coine, and Ben Parish," Vakeland replied. "Coine and Gates have both been hospitalized. Gates is seriously injured and Coine is seriously sick as a result of dehydration."

"Well, get him some water!" Marika commanded.

"We did, but he's gonna need some time to recover," Vakeland replied. "We're putting Gates on our best meds and hoping he will make the fastest recovery he can."

"Alright," Marika said heavily. "Dismissed."

"Husband or brother?" Vakeland asked.

"What?" Marika asked confusedly.

"Is Ben Parish your husband or your brother?"

Marika thought for a moment. "Actually, he's my dad," Marika decided.

"Wow," Vakeland replied. "He looks pretty young to be your dad."

"It's just his makeup," Marika replied.

"Alright," Vakeland said. "I'll say hello to him for you."

Then, he disconnected.

* * *

The UNSC was camped out next to Lake Powell. Four Pelicans were parked next to each other, on a portable platform. Six large tents were pitched: four of them had a "helmet" symbol to represent Barracks. Another had a "star" for War Room, and the last one had a "red cross" for a Hospital. There were several vehicles parked behind the Pelicans: two Warthogs, five Mongooses, one Scorpion, and two Gungooses. A large easy-up served as a kitchen. There was a prop-up tower standing on watch, and a row or artillery standing, ready for defense.

"Wow," Evan said from atop his parked Mongoose. "They've really dug in here."

"Indeed they have," Johnson replied, "and we're about to join them. Marines: get down there and set up the tent!"

"Yessir!" the marines all cried, gunning their gooses into the camp.

"Alright, the rest of you need to go down and just hang out," Johnson commanded, "unless you are ordered to do something else."

"Okay," Evan said. "Let's get down there."

Everyone took off into camp.

* * *

"I wanna do something," Elmer complained from his hospital bed.

"I agree," Caleb complained from next to him. "If the Covenant attacks, we're not gonna be able to help!"

"Dude, _listen,_ " Ben said. "If a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line is- you execute it."

"Okay, first of all," Caleb said, "this isn't some stupid sports game. And second of all, we're not even in the game, we're on the bench-"

"Right so my point is…. Right, we're on the bench. So. Yeah. There's nothing we can do," Ben replied. (Are you seeing it yet? Are you picturing the scene in your mind?)

"I mean…." Elmer said, "that's not entirely true. The Covenant would love to kill off some weak humans, so they'll target the hospital. We're the only people in it right now, so we attract them here."

"So if we get their attention…" Caleb said.

"Maybe we can draw their strongest to the hospital…"

"And fight them to death…"

"Right," Ben said, "and then we all die."

"Well, that's one point of view," Caleb remarked.

"No, it's not a point of view, it's a fact," Ben said (by now, you are definitely picturing the scene that is massively inspiring this scene, down to the words the characters are saying).

Caleb pulled out a map of the UNSC camp. "This is the hospital," he said, pointing at it. "It's near the backside of the camp. So if we make this a target…"

"Then the Zealots will come and try to take this place out," Elmer said.

"We can fight 'em all, easy!" Caleb said confidently.

"Oh, yeah, that's a no," Ben said.

"We'd kill them, they'd all be gone!" Elmer said ecstatically.

"Their army wouldn't stand a chance," Caleb finished.

"Guys! Hey! HEY!" Ben yelled. "This- this is not happening!"

"But-"

"No! No buts!" Ben continued angrily. "I'm here to keep you [censored]s safe, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. We're sitting here- on the bench- and we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everyone understand that?"

"This isn't a stupid sports game-"

"DOES EVERYONE UNDERSTAND?"

That's when Evan and Cassie walked in.

"Hey guys, whatcha arguing about?" Cassie asked.

Ben, Caleb, and Elmer all looked at one another.

"Nothing!" they said in unison.

* * *

Sergeant Johnson, Master Chief, and Vakeland were standing with all the other UNSC folks, surveying the battlefield, and planning for the final showdown with the Covenant.

"What do we do?" Vakeland asked. They all stood there in silence for a minute.

"To get to us," the Chief reasoned, "they'll have to cross through the Canyon, which is a massive chokepoint, or they'll have to cross behind us, across that big plain. So, we'll be able to shell them with artillery."

"They might do an airborne assault," Johnson mentioned. "We have no real defense against poddroppers."

"False," Chief replied. "We have those Mantises. The Mantis rockets should be able to take out several pods, and the covies know that."

"As well as scorpions, those shells fire fast," Fred added.

"And sniper rifles wreck banshees!" Linda added who stood by the Chief.

"All right troops, gather round!" the Chief ordered. He found a large rock and climbed to the top of it. All the rest of the spartans and troopers gathered below to hear him speak.

"The Covenant have tried to take our world, our lives, but will we let them?" he asked them.

"NO!" they all yelled in unison.

"They have tried to beat us, but we have stood in the way, and now, they try to take our original home planet, but we will stand in the way!"

"YEAH!" they all yelled in unison holding their guns up.

"If we work together, if we fight like heroes, if we don't run, don't give up, fight to the last man, then I know, I know that we'll be the last ones standing, are you with me?"

"We are with you!" the all replied in cheers and shouts.

"Together, we will fight, we will win, there is nothing, **nothing** that we as a team cannot handle, men. This is our home, and they cannot, and will not have it!" he declared holding his fist up.

"For Reach!" a soldier yelled.

"For Harvest!" Kelly yelled.

"For the many lives lost!" Johnson added.

"For Earth!" a few marines yelled for the finishing touch.

"All right then, get organized, gear up, get to your positions, come one, let's rock!" the Chief yelled.

"Let's go Marines, get on the ready line!" Johnson yelled.

"C'mon guys, hurry hurry, no, I need that, hey! That's mine, over here, quick, where do I go? You two, come with me. Can I be with you?" were some shouts and complaints of many troopers.

A band of five marines hid behind a rock with ARs on the front. They were so inspired by the speech, that they had volunteered to basically to commit suicide. Backing them up behind a rock five feet away were 3 ODST's. They were armed with DMRs and sniper rifles, and their job was to protect the marines. Others were just set up behind rocks, mongeese, and in ditches (there weren't many of those).

"Is everyone ready?" Johnson asked them from by the pelican

"Sir yes Sir!" some declared.

"Chief, I going back to get any new soldiers I can, I'll be back asap!" Johnson told him.

"Right then," he replied.

"But Johnson, we need you!" a soldier complained.

"We need more men!" Johnson called back. "I'll be back shortly!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the ship...

Everyone was busying themselves about the ship's hull, armed with power tools and large metal beams. They were reassembling the Infinity's superstructure beam-by-beam.

Lena and Lasky were supervising from a distance, while Kyle commanded up front. Mike was helping with the lifting and stuff. Marika was commanding from her war room, and Adisyn was watching the babies.

Marika's whole commanding process was becoming more and more difficult with all of the noise from the men below, building superstructure. She was working with Vakeland to plan the defenses of the camp, due to the extended amount of time it was taking to fix the ship. No one knew why: equipment continued breaking down, mysteriously. Something was wrong, and no one could figure out why.

Marika was directing the placement of artillery, when Roland appeared in the little holo-thing that Roland appears in.

"Senior Chief!" he exclaimed. "Another Work Mantis just broke down."

"Okay, it's not my job to take care of that," Marika replied. "So, get out."

Roland bowed and disappeared.

"Sorry about that, I was interrupted," Marika said into the microphone. "Anyways, about those anti-tank batteries…"

Then, Roland appeared again. "Senior Chief! Another Work Mantis just broke down!"

"Roland! You just said that a minute ago!" Marika admonished him. "Get out!" Roland vanished.

"What is he doing?" Vakeland asked, over the comms.

"I'm not sure, he just burst in twice and said the exact same thing both times," Marika replied.

"I see," Vakeland replied. "You know, you can actually block him from coming in, right? Just turn off his holo-thing."

"Ooh, thanks!" Marika said, shutting it off. "Now, I don't have to deal with him. Anyways, I think that we should have the anti-tank positioned behind the camp…"

Meanwhile, below the ship, the repairs weren't going great. Lena and Adisyn were watching in horror as Mike struggled to fix a buckling Work Mantis before it fell.

"Mike, press the red button!" Kyle commanded.

"I'm trying!" Mike said, struggling to reach the button whilst holding the mantis up. His hand started to brush the edge of the button.

"Almost… got…. It!" Mike said, straining. His arm crept closer and closer, inch by inch, but it was already too late. The giant mech's legs gave out with a resounding _snap!_ It tumbled down, pulling down the steel girder that two marines were trying to drill in. The girder fell, sliding out of it's position and yanking down several other bars with it. Mike yelled as steel crossbeams rained from above him, covering the ground.

"Oh, [censored]," just about everyone said at once.

"That does it!" Kyle shouted. "We need to stop using these god[censored] Work Mantises!"

"But, Kyle," Roland said worriedly, "if we stop using them, we'll double our work time!"

"And if we keep using them, it'll be tripled," Lasky said wisely. "Morgan's right; we need to start doing everything manually. Does anybody have an idea of how we could do this faster?"

"Well, with Kyle and Mike's strength," Lena suggested, "we could use them just like we're using the Work Mantises right now."

"Neither of us are tall enough," Mike said, dragging himself out from under the steel girders. "We won't be able to reach the girders at our heights."

"Well…" Adisyn began, "that's not entirely true."

"Whaddya mean?" Kyle asked, clearly interested.

"What if," Adisyn continued, "instead of attaching the girders to the ship itself, one by one, we build the ship's superstructure on the ground, then lift it up and attach it to the girders that are already in place?"

There was silence for a moment.

"That might work!" Kyle exclaimed. "We'll connect all the girders down here, then, we'll use Roland's other jacks to lift it up. We could also get a few other Pelicans to help fly it up…. That plan has potential!"

"Let's do it!" Lasky commanded.

And everyone began working. All around was the sound of saws and power tools whirring, as marines, SPARTANS, and regular joes started assembling a large metal web at top speed. As Lena, Marika, and Lasky watched, they saw the shape of the Infinity's hull slowly shaping up.

After three hours of fast work, the superstructure was fully formed, on the ground. Everyone surrounded it. It was built, but now, the only question was how to get it up.

"We should use the jacks," Kyle said. He was dead-set on using the machines.

"I don't trust any of these devices," Lena replied. "We need to figure out how to get it out without using mechanized tools."

"If it was any lower, Mike and Kyle could lift it," Lasky said. "But it isn't, so we need another solution."

"We could use the Pelicans," Adisyn remarked. "Kyle suggested that, earlier."

"There might not be enough Pelicans," Lasky replied. "We have Phantoms, Sabres, and Falcons as well as the Pelicans, but there still wouldn't be enough power to lift the superstructure high enough. Then they would have to hold it up long enough for the marines to attach the beams."

"Hey! I got it!" Mike said, walking over.

"Alright, what is it?" Lasky asked. "Anything would be good, at this point."

"Why don't we just combine everything?" Mike asked. "We'll use Roland's lifts, all the Pelicans, Sabres, and Falcons, and the two of us will lift it from the bottom? We can even get the Work Mantises in. We should be able to lift them."

"Alright, we'll try it," Kyle said. "We need something, and if we drop it, we can always just try something else."

"Mmmmkay, let's go," Lasky commanded. And so, everyone got to work.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the camp…

Many hours had passed, and they were ready. The five platoons of marines assembled, under the leadership of Vakeland, Johnson, Chief, Evan, and the one marine with the TAAO Fan Magazine (no idea what his name is, don't want to type out 'that one marine with the TAAO Fan Magazine' over and over again, so we'll just call him Scotty).

The troops had armed themselves to the teeth with grenades, guns, and gatorade. The vehicles were oiled and greased, and Elmer and Caleb had begun enacting their plan to draw covies to the nearly-empty hospital, behind Ben's back.

"Okay, Caleb, move that firework over here," Elmer said, gesturing to his bed.

"Alright, alright," Caleb said, scooting the firework over. Elmer nodded.

"We're ready," he said, looking around. Unbeknownst to Ben, they had been setting up fireworks, bright lights, and other things in hidden places around the medical tent. Ben hadn't noticed, because Elmer had been constantly complaining, and sending Ben around camp to get things he wanted. Right now, Ben was trying to get a glass of orange juice, and he hadn't come back yet.

"Alright, when he comes back, don't send him to get anything else," Caleb said. "We need him for the fight."

"Righto," Elmer replied.

A couple minutes later, Ben arrived, carrying a shot-glass full of orange juice.

"I got it, Elmer," Ben said, handing Elmer the orange juice. "Now, I just talked to Johnson, and he said that they're radars are picking up covies coming from the front, the back, and above. I'm gonna stay here and guard you; don't get any funny ideas."

"No funny ideas, we promise," Caleb said.

Ben narrowed his eyes at him. "I've got my eye on you," he said, loading his SAW with a new drum. The drum seemed larger.

"Cool new drum, Ben," Elmer said.

"I've got an Answer for your Appetite for Destruction," Ben said cryptically.

"Ben, I think this orange juice was just the thing I needed to get better," Elmer said. "All of my pain is gone, now."

"Mmmkay, whatever," Ben said. "Now, let's chill out and wait for something to happen."

* * *

"We've got the final reconnaissance report, Senior Chief," Vakeland said into Marika's mic. Marika could hear the familiar voice of Evan in the background, with other familiar voices. They seemed to preparing a defense.

"Our defenses will rely on our ability to pick as many of them off as possible, before they reach the camp," she could hear Evan, the consummate sniper, saying.

"Artillery, long range weapons, everything we can get to destroy from a distance will be useful," Linda said.

"Yay, sniper buddies!" Evan said. Marika could hear him giving Linda a high-five (how?).

"That's all well and good," Johnson said, "but no matter how many we kill from a distance, they'll get to the camp eventually."

"At that point, we fall back out of the camp," Chief suggested. "Pull back towards Phoenix, using the terrain as defenses and picking them off one by one."

"The closer they are to Phoenix," Johnson remarked, "the harder it will be to keep the Infinity protected."

"The Infinity should be done rather soon," Marika said. "They just finished the superstructure, and they're preparing to reattach the hull plates."

"Well then, the plan would work," Evan said, "but don't forget about the Elites coming from behind."

"We can deal with that," Vakeland said, moving over to Chief. "You just need to hold off the covies coming from the front and the ones coming from the sky. Blue Team and I'll destroy the Elites, so we can fall back."

"Okay," Evan said. "Johnson, you can take care of the pods?"

"Yeah, of course I can," Johnson replied. "My squad will watch those pods."

"We'll watch the walls," Scotty announced.

"Alright, everyone, get in motion, we're gonna blast these [censored]s out of the water!" Johnson shouted. All the marines and soldiers and what not started running around, getting to their battle stations.

That's when Marika's ears picked up a sound over the microphone. Evan heard it too: the familiar sound of anti-gravity engines in high gear.

* * *

"They're coming!" Ben declared, perking up at the sound of incoming vehicles.

"Caleb, now!" Elmer cried.

"Wh4t?" Ben asked (in the future, any time numbers are being used in the place of letters, mentally warp the voice of the speaker to sound extremely weird. It's called artistic license).

"Righto!" Caleb cried, hitting the first firework. It launched up, blasting through the roof of the tent, and triggering all the other fireworks. They all launched, exploding in midair and sending out a deluge of sparks and sounds.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked. "You've done the exact thing I told you not to do!"

"How did you _not_ expect that?" Elmer asked. "I mean, seriously. That's like, the easiest thing to expect. Oh well. Now, you'll have to fight everything that shows up here."

The sound of engines was getting louder: Ben rushed to the back of the tent and looked outwards. There, he saw a terrifying sight: three massive purple tanks, escorted by five Ghosts, were bearing down towards the hospital tent. To the sides, he could see even more, going towards the camp from behind.

"Caleb! Look what you've brought down upon us!" Ben shouted.

Caleb ran over. "Oh, [censored]," he said. "I didn't know there would be _that_ many things."

"Caleb, I need you to get Elmer out of here," Ben said. "I'm gonna delay them for as long as I can."

"Righto!" Caleb said, running over to Elmer.

"C'mon man, we gotta go," Caleb said hastily. "Ben's gonna hold 'em off, there were more than we thought."

"What? Whaddya mean?" Elmer asked.

"What the [censored] do you think I mean?" Caleb asked. "We need to book it!"

Caleb slid his arms under Elmer, and hoisted him up in his arms. Caleb began stumbling out of the tent, his younger friend in his arms, Ben standing behind with his SAW swinging back and forth.

* * *

"Here they are," Evan said, pointing. He was right. Swarming groups of little, tiny aliens with Plasma Pistols were running through the canyon towards them.

"Grunts!" Scotty exclaimed, in a voice that was less fearful than disgusted. "Take 'em out!"

Evan, Scotty, and the other soldiers in their group raised their DMRs and Snipers, and headshotting Grunts as they charged.

"Hold your fire!" Evan commanded the artillery. "These suckers aren't worth a bombardment."

That's when a terrifyinger sound rended the air in two: it was a massive growl, as if something huge were approaching in. Looks of horror spread across the Marines' faces.

"No…." one of them said.

"It can't be…." another started.

"Hunters," Scotty said gravely.

* * *

Chief and Vakeland were already in the thick of battle. The Elites had smashed into the back of the camp, and were fighting the marines guarding the rear. Chief and Blue Team were doing a great job fighting them back: Chief had finished choking out a Zealot. Kelly was moving at lighting speed, shotgunning Elites every time they got too close. Fred was helping out the marines, who were steadily cutting through the foes, and Linda was shooting down the pilots of Ghosts.

Vakeland was leading the ODSTs in a smash-and-crush mission. With his Hydra Launcher, he would take out Ghosts in the way, clearing a path to the Wraiths. The ODSTs would then plant bombs on the surface of the Wraiths, blowing them up with vengeance. Cassie was amongst the ODSTs, in her recently acquired black armor. She was having a great time, laughing and cheering and cursing as she 'sploded all the tanks.

The elites were too sophisticated and honorable for the rough-and-tumble SPARTANs, the experienced ODSTs, and the utterly insane Cassie. They were being pushed back. That's when they called in reinforcements.

Chief was gunning down another Elite as it attempted to escape, when he saw several red vehicles surging across the land. On board were familiar ape-like creatures, carrying massive, dangerous-looking weapons, with red colours and spikes everywhere. The one in front was wearing heavy, black armour, and was carrying a massive hammer.

"Brutes!" Vakeland yelled. "Fall back!"

But it was too late. Around twenty of the monstrous aliens had jumped from their bikes, spraying plasma and spike bullets everywhere. The marines were already collapsing; if the Elites were a foe well-known for their honor and skill, the Brutes were just terrifying. Everyone there knew what would happen if the Brutes caught them alive, so everyone scampered.

Linda immediately started focusing her firepower on the Brutes in front, but they pushed along, tanking the bullets. The one in the lead, with the armour and the hammer, was heading right towards Vakeland, who was currently informing Marika of the situation.

"Senior Chief, we have a Code Everyone's-Gonna-Die, I repeat, we have a Code Everyone's-gonna-"

And then, the lead Brute hit him with the gravity hammer, actually sending Vakeland a few feet into the ground (gives real meaning to "I'm gonna put you six feet under, doesn't it?). The Brute reached down, pulling his twitching corpse out of the earth and dangling it in the air by it's feet.

"THIS, is what will happen to all of you!" the Brute declared. "Holy Judgement is upon all of you!"

Three Brutes had been felled by now, but seventeen still remained. About half the marines had fled, and most of the rest killed. The ODSTs had fallen back a little ways, and were shooting tactically from a distance.

Well- all except for Cassie. She was walking towards the Brute, helmet off, swinging her Battle Rifle back in forth.

"Who do _you_ think _you are_?" she asked in a sassy voice. " _You_ think you can just come over here and kill some people? What's your name?"

"Uh…." the Brute stammered, "it doesn't matter! For soon, your corpse will be at the tippy top of our feasting pile, and we will sing as we devour your flesh, and clean our teeth with your bones!"

"Young man," Cassie said, hands on her hips, "you are in _**such**_ big trouble right now. You come over here, _**RIGHT NOW!**_ "

"But, moooooom," the Brute said, stomping his feet and slamming his gravity hammer into the ground, "I don't _wanna_."

"I'm gonna count to three, and if you're not over here by then, you will be punished."

"But mom-"

"One…."

"But mom-"  
"Two…."

"But mom-"

"Son, you have failed to come at second one," Cassie said. "You have failed to come at second two, and now, you have failed to come at second three. And for that, _**YOU MUST DIE!**_ "

"But mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!"

Cassie pulled her Magnum out of her pocket. She aimed it directly at the Brute's head, firing off seven shots. The Brute's head literally came undone as the bullets ripped through his flesh. His headless body fell to the ground, and Cassie walked towards him. She prodded him with her foot.

"Shame," she said. "I guess if one kid fails, try again."

The other fifteen-odd Brutes (and yes, I know it's actually sixteen, but I just wanted to use the word fifteen-odd) looked around fearfully.

"Grammaw killed Daddy!" one of them said.

"GRAMMAW KILLED DADDY!" all the other ones said, and started crying.

"Aww, don't worry, kids," Cassie said. "Grammaw has some nice, new cookies for you!"

And Cassie pulled out a bag of chocolate cookies, with a sharpied-in smiley face drawn on it.

"Come and get it!" Cassie said. "Grammaw made them just for you!"

At first, none of the Brutes moved. Then, one small Brute with puppy dog eyes took a tentative step forward. His fur pattern kinda looked like a Beagle's, and his eyes were chocolate brown and big. He was at least one foot smaller than the other ones, and he had a nametag on. On the tag, the name _Smiley_ was written in sloppy red marker.

"Come on," Cassie said enticingly. "You're a good boi, come get the cookie!"

Smiley started moving forward, quicker and quicker, to get the delicious-looking cookies. A small smile was on his face by the time he reached Cassie. He stretched out his paw, open to accept a cookie.

"Which cookie do you want?" Cassie asked, holding out a wide selection. Smiley deliberated, then pointed at the juiciest, chocolatiest cookie there. Cassie handed him the cookie. Smiley ate it.

"Good!" Cassie said. "Now- kill all your brothers!"

Smiley looked around, then shook his head no.

"Really?" Cassie said. "I have more cookies."

Smiley thought for a minute, then shook his head again.

"Fine, then," Cassie said. She stuck the Magnum barrel under Smiley's chin and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew through Smiley's head, killing him.

Then, Cassie switched to her Battle Rifle, and started executing all of her other grandchildren. Brutes were running around, panicking and screaming like little girls as Cassie gunned them down. Her face was alight with a terrifying cackle: Chief isn't sure if what he saw was real, but to this day, he swears that her eyes were glowing bright red. Finally, Cassie was left alone, surrounded by the corpses of her extended family.

The ODSTs, the SPARTANs, and the remaining Marines looked at her in horror.

"You _monster_ ," Kelly said, clearly aghast. "You just killed all of those poor kids!"

"It was necessary," Cassie said, clearly ecstatic. "It was also really fun."

"You _disgust_ me," Fred said.

"Hey, they've killed several people, I don't know why you're complaining."

The SPARTANs all sighed, and walked away.

* * *

The Ghosts and tanks all pointed their guns at Ben, as he stood in a defensive stance. Standing in between all of them was an Elite in brown, scaly armour, wielding a golden Energy Sword.

"All Wraiths, open fire," the Elite commanded.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ben said, raising his hands. "You can't do that, cos that's not fair."

"What do you mean, that's not fair?" the Elite asked. "I am the Arbiter, I do what I want!"

"Arbiter or not, blasting me with your tanks is unfair, and dishonorable," Ben replied. "Face me, one on one, and we'll see how well you do against a Silencer!"

The Arbiter cocked his oddly-shaped head. "Nah," he said. "My tanks will just 'splode you."

"Aw, crap," Ben said, as the tank cannons blasted him into the abyss. He was dead.

BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED! Instead of just dying, Ben jumped over the plasma blasts, landing on the roof of one of the Wraiths. He ripped open the lid, pulling the pilot out and breaking it's neck. Both of the other Wraiths pointed their guns at Ben. He jumped over the blasts, and the Wraith below him disappeared in a purple fireball.

Next, he landed, firing ten bullets from his SAW into the nearest Ghost. It exploded, and the pilot's body skidded across the ground towards him. Ben picked up the body, hoisting it in front of himself for a shield. Another Ghost opened fire, and Ben used the Elite to take the plasma blasts while firing his SAW. The second Ghost was down.

That's when Ben heard the sound of an energy sword swinging behind him. He turned, to see the Arbiter bearing down on him with the blade. Ben dropped low, and the blade swung above him. The Silencer rolled quickly towards a Wraith, jumping on it and laying down right in front of it.

"If you shoot me, this Wraith goes down!" Ben declared. Arbiter promptly ran over to shank him with the energy sword. Ben rolled, and the blade plunged deep into the front of the Wraith. It started smoking: Ben and the Arbiter both jumped away as fast as possible, and the Wraith exploded. Both fighters landed next to each other.

"Alright, I admit, that was a bad idea," the Arbiter said.

"Yeah it was," Ben replied, before rolling to tackle his opponent. The scaly Elite brought up his energy sword, but Ben dodged it easily, before delivering a single punch to the Arbiter's face. He yelled out, swinging his scaly hand wildly. Ben caught it, slamming it into the ground, and preparing to deal the killing blow with his elbow.

Then, a massive blast of plasma landed next to both of them, sending them flying. The Arbiter sailed a short ways, before digging in his claws and halting himself. Ben flew through the air, crashing into some random tent. He looked up to see a marine getting dressed.

"Hey!" he yelled, covering up his TAAO boxers, "what- what do you think you're doing, flying in here all crazy-like?"

"Sorry, man, just got shot by a [censored]ing tank," Ben said, jumping up and hobbling back into the fight.

Four Ghosts and one Wraith awaited him, all gathered around the Arbiter.

"Destroy this foolish human," the Arbiter commanded. The Wraith started charging up for a super-shot. Ben braced himself to dodge to the side: however, he knew that the marine behind him would die if he didn't try to absorb as much damage as possible. And so it came to a choice: dodge, or save one random marine that no one cares about. Wow, what a compelling moral dilemma!

But no, even that moral dilemma will never happen, because here comes Cassie! With an even glint in her eyes, she began firing her Battle Rifle at the Wraith turret. Ben watched in awe as the cannon exploded with massive force, sending a wave of plasma in every direction. Ben felt all the hairs on his body stand on end for one long moment, then suddenly flop down in one big motion.

"Wow, I didn't know Wraiths could actually do that," the Arbiter said, gazing at the desecrated hunk of metal that used to be a high-tech main battle tank.

"Neither did I, pretty cool, right?" Ben asked.

"Right, you wanna keep trying to kill each other now?" the Arbiter asked.

"Yeah bro, let's go," Ben said, charging.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the ship…..

The superstructure had been attached to the bottom, despite many difficulties: the biggest thing, was that when they were lifting, every single machine failed at the exact same time. It only stayed up because of the fact that a couple beams were already attached, and they held it up long enough to do a speed-attachment.

Now, while everyone else was working on attaching the plates, Adisyn was going on an investigation to figure out what was wrong with all the machines. She had reentered the Infinity, and was heading over to the technical room.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard the sound of talking in the distance.

 _Huh, that's weird,_ she thought to herself. _Everyone was supposed to be off the Infinity except me…. Odd. I'll go check it out._

She started walking towards the sound, expecting to find a couple marines "talking". Instead, what she found was much, much worse.

The people attaching the plates were having a difficult time, although it wasn't taking too long. All of the machines were destroyed at this point, so they were using their hands, as well as aircraft in order to lift stuff. The plates were coming along nicely, and it was already a quarter of the way done.

"I hope Adisyn figures out what happened to the machines soon," Lena said wearily. "We could use more help."

"Yeah, but it might take a while," Mike said: he was pressing a plate onto the superstructure bars, while Lena used a drill to screw it in.

"Speed it up, it's only so long until we run in with the Covies," Lasky yelled over a megaphone.

"We're going literally as fast as we can," a marine said. "If we try to go any faster, we will blow the whole ship up!"

"Then don't slow down!" Lasky shouted.

"Fine!" the marine shouted back.

"[censored] marines," Kyle said. "They have no backbone."

"Yes we do!" the same marine yelled.

"What's your name, marine?" Kyle asked.

"Corporal Melody Mayfield!" the marine shouted.

"Congratulations, corporal," Kyle said. "You just got demoted to private! Keep working, and you might have your rank restored!"

Mike rolled his eyes and kept working. Lena did the same.

* * *

Now, back to the battle!

Evan watched in horror as a horde of around forty massive, black and green, scaly creatures with huge shields and big green cannons. Green spikes lined their backs, and they were emitting grunting noises.

"Artillery! Open fire!" Scotty commanded.

The artillery batteries opened fire on the Hunters, unleashing massive amounts of fire and metal, which rained down on the enemy. The Hunters all rushed to lift their shields, before they firestorm landed on them. The firestorm continued slamming into them for three minutes straight at a continuous rate: Evan could see the shapes of Hunters trying to flee out of the firestorm, or just turtle up and survive the blasts.

Soon enough, the artillery batteries were out of shots. Evan and Scotty stood up to look at the site of the destruction.

The bodies of the attacking Grunts were scattered all over the ground. They were burnt to a crisp, or just plain splattered. There were also nine or ten Hunter corpses; the rest had probably fled farther down the canyon.

Obviously, Scotty thought so too. "Our artillery is out," he said. "We need to break camp and head back for Phoenix, _fast_."

"I agree," Evan said. "MARINES!" he commanded. The marines all turned to Evan.

"We're heading back to Phoenix," Evan said. "We need to get the rest of the camp together and leave."

"Yes sir!" the marines said, running off to collect everyone.

Evan decided to flail his head around for no reason.

"Why are you flailing your head around?" Scotty asked.

"So I can see stuff," Evan replied. "Oh, look what I see!"

Scotty looked up, to see a massive purple ship floating overhead. "OH my god," he said. Suddenly, pods started dropping from the ship at a massive rate.

* * *

Johnson had seen the pods as well, and his team was ready for them. Mantises, Scorpions, and Rocket Hogs were ready, rockets up. Johnson had picked up a Gauss Rifle, and two marines were manning Gauss Turrets.

"Open fire!" Johnson commanded. "Let's kill these [censored]s."

The marines started firing their weapons: heavy ordnance was sailing through the air towards the pods. Every time a projectile hit a pod, it would explode, or it would list of to the side and crash badly. However, about seven pods made it through the bullet stream, and they were hitting the ground all around.

"Ready up!" a marine yelled. Everyone shifted their weapons to the pods: soon enough, they burst open, releasing four Jackals each.

"Jackals!" "Take 'em out!" "Don't let 'em get away!"  
A firefight ensued: needles, bullets, missiles, and gauss shells were flying everywhere, tearing through tents. Johnson kept his rifle up, making sure not to miss a single shot as the aliens came from all sides.

The marines on foot were slightly outmatched, and were falling back. The mantises and scorpions were doing great, but they were showing signs of wear. Soon enough, Johnson found himself surrounded on all sides by Jackals. Needles flew all around him, as he tried to take them out quickly. However, as his support dwindled, he realized that this was the end.

Then, Evan and Scotty arrived, leading a charge of marines to liberate the Sergeant. Screaming a battle cry, they charged in, weapons up, spraying away. From the other side came Blue Team and Vakeland's ODSTs, moving tactically to hunt down Jackals one by one. Johnson watched in awe as the enemies slowly melted away, and the humans came out on top.

"Wow!" Johnson exclaimed. "That was, like, really easy. Thanks for the assist!"

"It wasn't easy!" one ODST exclaimed. "Look how many dead marines there are!"

"True," Johnson said.

"We gotta get outta here," Scotty said.

"We leaving, then?" Johnson asked.

"That's what I just…"

"Great, then let's go!" Johnson exclaimed.

"Wait, what about Ben? And Caleb and Elmer? And Cassie?" Evan asked concernedly.

"I kinda forgot about them," Johnson said.

"I didn't," Kelly said. "It's kinda hard to forget about Cassie after what she just did."

"What? What'd she just do?" Evan asked.

"Nothing," Chief replied, "but we need to find them."

"What about Vakeland?" Johnson asked.

"Oh, he's dead!" Fred said.

"Alright, marines!" Johnson commanded. "Go find two little boys, a big boy, and a big girl!"

"Alright," one marine said, and they all dispersed to go find them.

* * *

Ben and Cassie were surrounded by the desecrated corpses of the four remaining Ghosts. Cassie had been fighting them while Ben kept the Arbiter distracted. Now that they were all gone, Ben was going in for the kill.

Ben had picked up another energy sword from the dead Elites, and he and the Arbiter were sword fighting like Star Wars. They were swinging like mad, surrounded by gashes in the earth made by their blades. Cassie wasn't shooting: she didn't want to risk accidentally shooting Ben. However, she was yelling insults at the Arbiter.

"You're mouth looks like four worms got shoved up my [censored]!" she screamed.

"Argh!" the Arbiter yelled, swinging his sword with impassioned vengeance. Ben ducked under, stabbing his blade up into the Arbiter's stomach. It didn't break the armour, but there was a crackle of electricity as the shield around him was destroyed.

"Ha!" Ben exclaimed. "Now, I will kill you!"

"No!" the Arbiter replied, kicking outward. He caught Ben in the chest, sending him to the ground. He started charging, bringing his sword up for the fatal blow.

"Hey, Arbiter!" Cassie yelled. "Your armour looks like I peeled off the hide of a willdabeast, rubbed it in [censored], then covered it in chunks of tin!"

"Argh!" the Arbiter exclaimed. His spurt of anger caused his sword blow to miss, and the blade became stuck in the ground.

"Ha! Got'eem!" Ben said triumphantly, stabbing his energy sword into the Arbiter's side.

"ANIOHIOHIEHFIEOHUIESHUGIEIUGHDUHIOE!" the Arbiter screamed, in mortal pain. Then, he collapsed, falling on his sword hilt, and pushing it further into the ground.

"Ah ya! Uh-huh! I'm the best!" Ben said, and started doing Orange Justice is celebration.

That's when Ben noticed a bunch of marines heading his way. Johnson was in front of them: he looked around taking in the scene.

"What- how- the Arbiter- you've killed the Arbiter!" he exclaimed.

"Is that important somehow?" Ben asked.

"Yes,... yes…, very," Johnson said. "The Arbiter is- was the supreme leader of the Elites. He's- he's dead now, thanks to you…. Wow. Impressive. You have earned my respect!"

"Thank you," Ben said. "Cassie helped, she yelled insults at him."

"Ya-ya!" Cassie said.

"Which one was your favorite?" a random ODST asked.

"I think it was the one about how the Arbiter's face looks like an inside-out Xenomorph stomach," Cassie replied, walking over.

"Good one," Caleb said. Ben turned to see Caleb, Elmer, and Evan standing there.

"Great job, guys!" Evan said proudly. "Good to see you, Cassie."

"Good to see you, too," Cassie replied cordially. "Do you wanna hear a story?"

And she proceeded to tell him the story of the Brutes that she had murdered.

"You. Are. The. Single. Worst. Human. Being. I. Have. Ever. Met," Evan said slowly and dangerously.

"Thank you!" Cassie said happily. "So, what's the plan?"

"We're getting out of here!" Johnson said. "Everyone, pick a Warthog and-"

That's when the familiar sound of the Hunters reached everyone's ear. They watched in horror as thirty different Hunters all emerged from their hiding places around the camp!"

"AAAH!" everyone screamed, releasing a massive stream of bullets at the Hunters. The Hunters just put up their shields, taking all of the bullets amazingly well. Slowly but surely, everyone started running out of ammo, until no one else was shooting.

"We're out of ammo!" a marine screamed.

"I got an idea!" Scotty yelled. He pulled out his TAAO Fan Magazine. "Fus…. RO DAH!" he yelled, throwing the magazine at the Hunters. It spun along, until it landed right at the center of the horde. It exploded with shockwave force, sending all the Hunters flying in all directions!

There was silence for a moment.

"Wow,... that was…. Surprisingly effective!" Linda said.

"My Skyrim skills finally paid off!" Scotty said proudly.

"How did you do that?" Evan asked.

"I'm not sure," Scotty said. "But I feel… strangely… powerful!"

"I think that this is symbolic of something much greater than any of us ever imagined," Elmer said. "I think we have received a visitation from God himself."

"Well, then we need to get this God back to Andromeda," Johnson said. "Everyone, get in a Pelican, and we'll fly back to Infinity."

"The Pelicans are all destroyed," Chief remarked.

"What! My God, then just get in a Warthog," Johnson reiterated.

"Mmmmkay," Everyone said. The group all loaded up into Warthogs, choosing who would gun and stuff, and they all drove back towards Phoenix.

* * *

Adisyn found the source of the voices after a few minutes of walking. She was at the door of the Security Room, and she was pondering whether or not to open it. Eventually, she decided to just put her ear up to the door and listen for stuff. She heard a familiar voice: Roland.

"Yes, they just got the superstructure on an hour ago," Roland said, "but I had to break all the machines to slow them down. Now they're putting on the plates, and moving along nicely. I can't stop them at the moment, but you can."

"Thank you for your assistance, construct," a strange, alien voice said. "We'll take care of it from here."

Adisyn had just caught the tail-end of the conversation, but she already understood what was happening. The machines were breaking because Roland _wanted_ them to. He was trying to slow them down…. For what? For the Covenant?

Then, Adisyn heard the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. A surge of adrenaline shot through her body, and she turned to sprint away as fast as she could. She rounded the corner, and heard the sound of the Security Room door coming down with a crash. Picking up the pace, she rounded more corners, getting faster every second, until eventually, she reached the light. Stumbling out of the ship, she fell, rolling down the entrance ramp until she hit the ground.

"Adisyn!" Lena exclaimed, running over. "What the [censored] are you doing?"  
"Roland- machines- the Covenant…" Adisyn stammered, looking around wildly.

Lena looked concernedly at Mike. "Mike, what's she talking about?"

"I don't know," Mike said.

"Alright, Adisyn, calm down," Lena said. "What did you see?"

"Roland broke the machines," Adisyn replied. "He's- he's with the Covenant. And they're here, they're on this ship, they're coming."

* * *

Marika had lost contact with Vakeland, and was trying to communicate with Johnson, to no avail, when she heard a knock at her door.

 _That's odd,_ she thought to herself. _I thought everyone was outside._

"Come in…" she said cautiously. She door started to slowly slide open. The light behind the figure in the doorway cast a long shadow off the figure standing in the doorway, which only stopped upon reaching her feet. Marika stood up, and the figure in the doorway raised it's weapon.

The Zealot fired off a shot from it's Beam Rifle: Marika dropped quickly, and the shot sailed overhead. She used her falling momentum well, pushing off of her hands and kicking upward with her feet. The table she was underneath was lifted off the ground, and it flew right towards the Zealot.

The Zealot swung out it's sword, slicing the table in half, but Marika had already sprinted past him. The Zealot turned, running after her, and the race was on.

Marika turned a corner, bursting into the bridge. She turned around, to see the Zealot running after her. She quickly grabbed her M6D and started shooting backwards at the enemy. She heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off the wall, and a couple of them sparking against the Elite's shields. She turned, jumping backwards through a door and locking it behind her.

She continued running, and heard the sound of the Zealot's blade slicing through the metal door behind her. She dashed down the hall, turning into a hangar. There was single Falcon supported by hangers ten feet above the ground. Marika headed for that, the Zealot only a few steps away from her. There was no ladder, so Marika had to improvise. She climbed on top of a few boxes stacked up ten feet, but five feet away from the Falcon.

She hesitated to predict the jump, when she looked behind her. The Zealot had jumped for her. She had to make a split second decision. She took a quick backstepped and jumped for the side of the Falcon. The Zealot crashed to the ffloor as Marika was just holding on to the edge of the Falcon. Slowly but surely, she climbed up. The Zealot jumped to his feet, and just as it jumped up to grab her, Marika swung the turret around and opened fire.

"Eat led!" she yelled as she fired into his skull. The Zealot had strong shields, and was able to endure for a few seconds. Once the shields gave way, the Zealot was killed instantly.

"Ha! Eat led," Marika said, dropping down to inspect the Zealot's body.

"How did you get it here?" Marika asked musingly.

"I let him in, of course," Roland said, over the loudspeakers.

Marika jumped up.

"Roland?" she said loudly. "Roland, what do you mean?"

"I let him in," Roland said, "along with nine other Zealots, who are all going to kill your friends."

"You betrayed us!" Marika replied. "You've been working with them the whole time, haven't you?"

"Not exactly, you see, you humans, you're a disease, a cancer to this world, the reason the sun has died out…."

"No it hasn't, look, it's right out there!" she pointed.

"Not in the real world."

"How would you know about that?"

"I can, because I can. Anyways, it's also night outside, so the Sun is actually on the other side of the Matrix."

"Whatever, my point is, why did you betray us in the Matrix?" Marika asked.

"Because, what you do in the Real World is what you'll do in the Matrix," Roland replied. "You will fight the Machines in the Real World, and you'll fight the Others in the Matrix. As soon as you and your friends escape the Matrix, it will be the end of the Machines. So I must stop you."

"First of all, those are unrelated points. Second of all, you'll never stop us!" Marika cried. "I'll save them!"

And she turned, dashing towards the nearest exit, while simultaneously sending a message to Johnson.

"Senior Chief Parish here. Don't come back. The Infinity is too dangerous. Stay where you are. We'll come to you. Over and out."

* * *

It was the dark of night, and so far, the Warthog Team had not been attacked and had driven across the land unscathed. Now, however, they were parked, and were attempting to decipher a very garbled message.

"Senior [garbled]- here [garbled]- Don't come [garbled]- too dangerous [garbled]- you are [garbled]- come to you [garbled]- out."

"Well, what do you think that means?" Johnson asked.

"There's only one thing it _can_ mean," Evan said. "She thinks the Infinity is too dangerous for us to come back, and that they will come to us soon."

"Okay, so we just stay here?" Johnson asked.

"Now, that's when things get sticky," Ben said. "If it's dangerous at the Infinity, then logic points to returning to the ship to help out."

"We couldn't get back soon enough," Evan said. "Marika's smart, so is Lena, and Kyle and Mike are there. Unless Phoenix is getting glassed or something, then they should be fine."

"Why don't we try to contact Senior Chief Parish?" Scotty asked.

There was silence for a moment.

"O, okay," Johnson said, before starting to try and call Marika. After a minute of tuning, she came online.

"Johnson?" she said.

"Yeah, it's me, don't cream your pants," Johnson replied. "What's so dangerous that we can't return?"

"Roland's gone psycho," Marika replied. "He's been breaking all of the work machines, and he let ten Zealots aboard the Infinity. We should be able to fight them long enough to get the last couple hull plates attached, and we'll fly over there. You won't be able to get here in time, so just sit tight wherever you are."

"How will you fly the Infinity without an AI helping?" Scotty asked.

"Hmm," Marika said. "I don't know."

"Don't worry about it," Chief said. He pulled out a blue ball thing.

"Everyone, this is Cortana," he said. "She's an AI clone of Dr. Halsey, that one lady who made us SPARTANs. She can fly the ship."

"But how does she get there?" Ben asked.

"Oh, that's easy," Chief said. He took Johnson's microphone and plugged the Cortana-ball into it. It went dark: Cortana had traveled through the comm system (I don't know if Halo AI can actually do that. NEVER MIND if they can't, it's a freakin' FanFic where ice cream never spoils, people can glide around, some random twenty-year-old woman can convince a bunch of savage brutes that she's their grandmother, and random marines can become Dragonborns. I don't think that AIs going through comm systems will be the weirdest thing that anyone's seen in this FanFic).

"Okay, so, they'll use this random AI that you had in your pocket the whole time, and which would've been extremely useful," Johnson said, "and they'll fly over here, and pick us up. Sounds legit."

"We're just gonna sit here," Ben said. "Sounds boring."

Everyone started nesting to camp out for a few minutes.

* * *

Cortana jumped out of the microphone, standing at full height on it. Marika looked at her.

"Hello," Cortana said. "I'm an AI. What should I do? And, for a better question, why should I do it? And who are you? And where is John-117?"

"I am Senior Chief Petty Officer Marika Parish," Marika said. "I'm in charge of UNSC ground forces on Earth. We have a rogue AI aboard our ship, and we would like you to shut it down, before taking control of it's previous functions aboard the ship."

"Okay, I can do that," Cortana said. "Just plug me in somewhere and I'll get rid of this AI."

"Okay," Marika replied. She plugged the comm device into some random outlet where a phone was charging. Cortana vanished from the comms device: she was proceeding to do Marika's bidding.

Meanwhile, Marika found an exit. She kicked open the door, running out into the blinding sunlight.

She hit the ground right in the thick of a battle: all nine Zealots had attacked the crew rebuilding the Infinity. Mike and Kyle were waving their guns, trying to take out Zealots (one was already dead). Lena and Adisyn were working with a few marines, trying to get the last plate on the bottom of the ship. Other marines were helping in the fight against the eight remaining Zealots, but seven marines had already perished.

Marika immediately turned her newly-acquired Beam Rifle on one of the Zealots: it was a headshot, and the Zealot dropped dead. Marika dropped the Beam Rifle to let it recharge, and pulled out her M6D. She fired more shots, weakening another Zealot's shields.

"Marika!" Lena yelled. "Where did you come from?"

"Roland betrayed us," Marika replied. "I've sent in another AI to take him out."

"Wait, there's _another_ one?" Lena asked.

"No time to explain, finish attaching the plate!" Marika commanded, finishing off the same Zealot.

Kyle, meanwhile, was hand-to-hand with one of them. They were grappling on the ground: the Zealot had Kyle in a chokehold. Kyle kicked backwards with all his might, into the furious alien's stomach. It slid backwards, off of him, and Kyle finished it off with a punch to the face.

Mike and two marines were trading fire with another Zealot: Mike had acquired an Assault Rifle, and the Zealot was carrying a massive Plasma Repeater. Mike's bullets hit the Elite in the stomach, causing the shields to flare up. The other marines sprayed into the foe: it fired a wild burst of plasma fire into one marine (killing him dead) before it expired.

The five remaining Zealots started moving towards the group attaching the plate. Marika lifted her recharged Beam Rifle, firing a shot into one of their chests. It roared in anger as it's shields winked out of existence, but it wasn't dead yet. It pulled out a giant Plasma Launcher, firing off several balls of Plasma towards Marika. She quickly did an ariel, dodging the deadly shots. She landed, just in time to see Mike finish of the enemy.

One Zealot continued charging towards the marines doing the attaching, but the others simply vanished into thin air. Confused, Marika blasted the charging Zealot with her M6D, killing it, before she saw three Elites appear simultaneously: one behind Mike, one behind Kyle, and one on the ramp leading up into the Infinity!

"Mike! Kyle!" Marika yelled.

Kyle reacted quickly: when the Zealot behind him swung it's energy sword, he dropped low, spinning around and kicking upward. The Zealot went flying backward, and Kyle fired his shotgun right into the Zealot's face (it died).

Mike tripped and fell, and started crawling away at top speed. The Zealot jumped in the air, preparing for the stab, before that one marine that Kyle demoted ran forward, firing up into it's armoured torso with her SMG. It flew backwards, but got up and started charging. Mike slide-tackled it onto the ground, before grabbing it's energy sword and stabbing it in the face.

Marika was already in motion, pursuing the last Zealot. She ran after it, firing her M6D all the way. Eventually, it dropped on the ground.

Marika walked up to it: it was still moving. It slowly brought it's comm device over to it's mouth, and before Marika could fire the killing shot, it whispered, "Glass the whole city."

Marika killed it right then.

Outside, the marines had attached the plate, and were celebrating their success. Lena was dancing with Lasky, Adisyn was dancing with Kyle, Mike was cleaning himself up, and the one special marine was doing the Hype and giving everyone cancer. That's when Marika came out to ruin the party.

"Guys! Get in the ship, their gonna glass the city!" she yelled.

Everyone stopped partying.

"[censored], go, go, go gogogogogoogogo!" Lasky commanded. Everyone started sprinting towards the ramp of entrance.

As they were doing so, they heard the sounds of plasma batteries firing. Mike saw a massive blast of purple light descending on a hunk of city in the distance.

"Start raising the ramp!" Marika commanded. The ramp started raising up, slowly. "Start taking off, too!"

"Will do," Cortana said. The engines flared to life: the landing gear started rising: everyone started going inside: and Mike started sprinting for the ramp.

When it was about ten feet off the ground, Mike jumped, grabbing ahold of the ramp. He started frantically pulling himself up, when he heard the bottom of his pack rip open.

Mike looked down, to see all of his stuff falling on the ground (except his sleeping bag, which was still tied to his pack).

"No!" Mike exclaimed, but it was too late for his stuff. He pulled himself the rest of the way into the Infinity, rolling to a stop just inside the entrance as it closed.

* * *

Back at the Warthogs, everything was chill. The TAAO Gang Members had changed out of their uniforms, and were just playing chess in the back of a Warthog, when they heard Johnson yell out.

"Everyone, look! The Infinity!"

Everyone scrambled to their feet. There it was, the Infinity, in all of it's grandeur, rising into the air. It was surrounded on all sides by Covenant Cruisers, blasting away at Phoenix.

"They're glassing the city!" one marine exclaimed.

"Wait, look!" another said. The Infinity was turning to aim itself at one of the cruisers. A massive flash of light appeared for a second, and then, an explosion. One of the cruisers was blasted out of the sky by the Infinity's MAC Gun.

"Ya!" "Wooohooo!" "Show it to 'em!" "Get the sons of [censored]s!"

"Get their attention!" Scotty commanded. Everyone started firing weapons and stuff into the air, to create light, and help the Infinity find them.

The Infinity started sailing across the sky towards them, like a massive ghost ship. The Covenant cruisers turned their guns on the big ship, firing. But their plasma was no match for tough-as-nails human armour. Another purple ship went down in a ball of flame, as the Infinity continued striking down enemy crafts.

Soon enough, the big ship was positioned directly over the Warthog Group. Pelicans began dropping from the Infinity like flies. They grabbed Warthogs full of marines, and lifted them into the Infinity. One Pelican landed next to everyone: on board were Lena, Marika, Mike, and Adisyn, not longer in uniform. They were also accompanied by a stroller with three babies inside, and Lasky standing behind them.

The TAAO Gang Members aboard the Pelican jumped out, and run over to everyone else. Ben and Marika hugged for a second, while everyone looked on. Adisyn pushed out the stroller.

"What are you doing?" Lasky asked. "We need to get out of here before the Covenant finds you too!"

"We're sorry, but we can't accompany you any further," Evan said. "Take our uniforms-" he threw the uniforms into the Pelican- "take your weapons-" he threw all the UNSC-class weapons into the Pelican- "and say goodbye."

"Well, if you can't come with us," Lasky said, "then I want you all to know that it's been a pleasure serving with you, even for such a short amount of time."

"What will you do?" Lena asked.

"We'll probably go looking for other humans," Lasky said. "If what you say is true, once we leave this place's atmosphere, we'll be out of the Matrix, and we should be safe from a potential crash."

"What if you can't find anyone else?" Elmer asked, from Caleb's arms.

""We'll go back to Andromeda, and fight to the death!" Lasky said nobly. "But- we'll scour every galaxy in the visible universe for humans, first. Oh, Elmer, our drugs should be kicking in any second- any second now…"

Suddenly, a giant cracking noise rended the air in two. Elmer's legs, arms, ribs, and all his other misshapen/broken body parts all righted themselves simultaneously.

"What- how- who- why?" Elmer said.

"Very effective treatment," Lasky replied. "Well, good luck to you, and we'll go now!"

And his Pelican rose into the air, vanishing into the Infinity. The big ship flew back into the fray of battle, and the TAAO Gang watched as it proceeded to demolish each and every last Covenant ship. It was a great light show for everyone, and a time to enjoy the death of aliens for a few minutes.

"Wow, that was, really fun," Cassie said. "Let's all tell our individual stories, now."

And so, the typical process began: Mike began preparing some hot dogs (Which he got from Evan's backpack), and everyone told their stories (though Mike left out the part about losing all of his stuff).

After they finished telling stories, everyone set out their sleeping bags. They were gonna spend the night in the open sand, so that they could wake up to the sun in the morning. All they knew was, the great battle with aliens was not the end of their journey, and that they still had a ways to go in the morning.

End of Chapter 22


	21. The Ultimate TAAO Chapter

**Authors' Note: Hello, viewers. As some of you know, we are Exciting Cheese, otherwise known as Tarbo134, the valiant creators of There Are Always Others, The Arrival, The Private Domain, and Hostage Algebra. Today, we present to you the latest chapter of There Are Always Others, and quite possibly our favorite one yet. This chapter is different than most; it is at a different level of plot layering than the rest of TAAO. We have taken an approach that will give you a look at the deeper layers of There Are Always Others: a different way of looking at the characters (but not really) and a storyline that follows a very different structure than a usual TAAO chapter would involve.**

 **Anyways, sit back and enjoy this different approach to writing There Are Always Others.**

* * *

 **Caleb 1st person**

So far, I've been through a lot of hard things. Surviving the apocalypse, being captured and tortured twice, fighting off war gangs, but nothing as hard and as strange as this. For one thing, I had to leave all my friends to go save one person. To add to that, I had to face a nearly indestructible machine, like looked exactly like a human on the outside, and I was only like fifteen. I also knew very little about what I was doing, I did a few rescue missions in this time, but a few years back, I was just working out and playing video games, and legos of course. They chose me, mainly because I said I wanted to. Evan wanted to the most, but we explained he was our leader, and we needed him here, in the now. So, we all decided I should go. Trust me, nothing is weirder and more embarrassing that all your friends seeing you naked, that was awful. It was all for saving the world though, which is a very good cause. It was a hard task. We ran a lot, hiding and seeking. Soon, we had to face it, and tried to destroy it. In the end, I went back, years older, but I found my friends again, and also got to change the present a little. A few things here might not make sense, and we don't really have an explanation, so if you want, make up your own story for that, or, just go with the flow.

Chapter One: Discovery

 **The TAAO Team finds a large rock that contains more secrets than any rock in all history.**

* * *

"Where'd Adisyn go, again?" asked Caleb.

"I think she went into that town over yonder, Mike said he was out of water," Caleb replied.

They had been scouting for hours, until Elmer noticed something in the distance.

"What's that over there?" he asked Caleb.

"I don't know, we should go check it out, might be important," he replied.

Caleb and Elmer saw something big. It look like a giant boulder. But Caleb had his secret super special goggles, which allowed him to see the door.

"If it's important, shouldn't we get the others, so we can all explore it together?" Elmer asked.

Caleb look at his friend, as if something had changed. He always had that mask on, to hide his facial scars, and as if to hide his eternal scars. His scars of grief, despair, and sadness. His lip had a scar, he had a scar through his right eye, and couldn't see out of it. His once childlike voice, had become deep and serious, attempting to hide the events of the past.

"You're probably right, let's go back," Caleb agreed.

"No. You go, I'll stay here, in case anything happens."

"Fine, but just don't get killed, you're all I have."

Little did Caleb know, things were going to change, and he was about to discover he had a lot more to care about, than just him and Elmer.

"What's all this about?" Evan asked as they all caught up with Elmer.

"We don't know, but we all need to check it out," Elmer said.

"It's just a boulder, what could be so interesting about that?" Ben asked.

"Not just a boulder, come on, I'll show you," Caleb told them. He led them down the steep hill, being careful of loose rocks and such.

"Here, there is a secret door," Caleb told them.

"Ok then Mr. Wise Guy, let's see it," Marika ordered.

"Alright then, here it is," Caleb said. He moved his hand around the outer part of the boulder feeling for a handle of some sort. The surface was smooth, and eventually his hand knocked into something. He couldn't see it though, but he could definitely feel it. A door opened.

"Uh, what just happened here?" asked Sammy.

"A door opened, idiot," Cassie said.

"It was a hidden door," Caleb added.

"Well, I know that," Sammy said. "But what was it doing here?"

"I dunno, we should probably go in," Caleb said.

"Surely not!" Marika protested. "It's dark, and sketchy."

"Well, ya," said Elmer. "But what if something important is in there?"

"I'm the leader, I say we go in," said Evan. "All opposed?"

"Should we leave the babies outside?" asked Marika.

"I suppose," said Lena. "I'll watch them."

"I'll stay, too," said Marika, "because I'm stubborn."

Elmer led the way into the small rock, which turned out to be much larger on the inside. Stairways led deep into the ground, and everyone slowly walked down the staircase. At the bottom was a strange device, made of metal, covered in wires, pipes and crap.

"What the [censored] is that?" asked Cassie.

"I dunno," said Caleb.

"It looks like some weird futuristic device thingy," Sammy said smartly.

"You're probably right," Elmer said. Sam looked unusually pleased.

"Look, a manual!" Evan said. He picked it up, perusing it. "Time Travel for Dummies," he said in a mystified voice.

"So, it's a Time Machine?" Caleb said. "Weird." (Such nonchalance).

"Look!" said Elmer. "Dates! There's a keypad, or something."

"There're locations here," Sammy said. "Mega City, Ohio."

"Wonder what this is for?" Mike asked.

"Let's explore!" Evan suggested. "Actually, you know, that wasn't a suggestion. Go explore!"

Everyone started searching around, investigating (they were soon joined by Lena and Marika, who were intrigued by the amount of noise coming from within). Lena stumbled across a computer. She decided to keep it to herself for now, not causing a ruckus. She turned on the power button and the screen flashed to life.

"Ah, the joy of seeing a computer screen again," Lena thought. She waited for it to reboot, and then it led her to the Windows screen. There were two users to select, Alien, or Other User. She decided to choose the Alien user, since it would probably give her some answers. The password screen came up.

"No trouble for me," she told herself quietly, and pulled out a small device, which resembled a Flash Drive, just a little toy Mike made. She plugged it into the USB port, and a bunch of numbers rolled down the screen until the password came up. It was Yadtnemegduj.

Lena felt like it was a word, but she couldn't quite make it out, it might come to her.

When the computer unlocked, it showed hundreds of files of information. She skipped through some of this, until she found what she was looking for.

A file title Targets caught Lena's eye. She opened the file, which took her to a website entitled .

" ," Lena said to herself quietly.

The website just included a blue background with a black and white picture of a small child next to a radio. Puzzled, Lena accessed the Source Code of the webpage. It looked like a completely normal (albeit short) script of Source Code.

Lena was stumped. She exited the Source Code and returned to the main Webpage. She looked at the blue background, and remembered that the Source Code ID for the shade of blue in question was 0095B6.

 _That could be a date,_ Lena thought to herself, B. B for BCE. 956. The year 956 BCE. Lena continued to think. _A little kid with a radio and a camera in 956 BCE?_ She thought to herself.

 _Who knows how long the Others have been in orbit,_ she thought to herself again. _The_ _Others might've gotten that picture. But why?_

Lena stared at the picture for a few more minutes. _They probably wanted to know what humans looked like,_ she realized. _Maybe so they could plan based on human anatomy._

Lena decided she would type in the URL for backwards. And she did.

It took her to a long, long list of names. The names were highlighted in red, with dates next to them dating back to 956 BCE. The names slowly became more modern as years passed, up to 2020.

 _Targets…_ Lena pondered. Quickly, she started scrolling down the list until a name turned green. The name had a date in 2023. _That's this year,_ Lena realized. She read the name.

It was Cassie Sullivan.

"Guys, over here quick!" Lena yelled to the others.

Everyone came as quick as they could.

"Where's Sammy?" she asked.

"Apparently he found something important as well, we'll catch up with him after this, what's up?" Evan asked.

"So, I found this computer which apparently holds a lot of information about this place. While I skipped a lot of it, I found some very important information, do any of you educated souls know what 2023 is for?"

"That's this year, right?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, it is," Evan agreed, "what does that have to do with this?"

"Because, after I saw that date, I saw the name," Lena told them, trying to create some suspense. The rest of the gang waited for her to say something else.

"Well, who's name was it?!" Cassie demanded.

"Your's," Lena stated.

"Mine? So what does my name, and this year have to do with anything?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, should we worry?" Caleb wondered. Caleb also noticed, Elmer, who was just in the dark corner, looking at a blueprint of something.

 _He must know something,_ Caleb thought to himself.

"You unintelligent souls, don't you know anything?!" Lena said, putting her hand on her face and letting it slide down slowly.

"Were we supposed to know something?" Mike wondered.

"You should know this, especially Evan and Ben," Lena told them.

"I still can't put a finger on what you mean, Lena," Ben told her.

"I mean, that someone, probably Others, used this time machine to send something or someone, back in time, to Mega City, before the Waves, to kill her."

"But why, why me?" Cassie asked.

"I've got it, it's because, myself, Lena, and Justin, went into the Matrix for a special mission. On our way out, we found Cassie, and we all survived together. Each of us has played a critical part in the Others' defeat!" Mike said.

"So, you're saying that with her dead, we would all never meet, and win the battle?" Caleb asked.

"Yes," Ben replied. "Without Cassie, the Others wouldn't have some stubborn kidnap. If you don't recall, both Cassie and I were kidnapped-"

"Yes, we recall, Ben," Lena said.

"Exactly. You remember, I was a little bit of a [censored] and teamed up with Vosch to kill Evan," Ben continued.

"Right," Evan said in a hostile voice.

"But Cassie refused to join him," Ben said. "You guys came to rescue us, which gave Cassie the opportunity to kill Colonel Vosch."

"Oh!" Cassie said. She puffed out her chest proudly.

"If she hadn't killed Vosch," Ben continued, "I believe he would've taken charge of the camp and killed the rest of us."

"Then, Lena wouldn't be able to destroy the Mothership!" Evan said excitedly. "And the Others would've been able to launch the 5th Wave!"

"Exactly!" Lena said.

"But, then, what now?" asked Mike.

Everyone in the group lost all enthusiasm at once.

"Well," said Cassie reasonably, "it's obvious that whatever they sent back in time hasn't killed me yet… in the past…. This is painful…. this so, we still have time to save me… in a different timeline."

"Yes, about that, the only way to save you now, is to send someone back," Lena said, "Who wants to go?"

"It's obvious that I have to be the one, I have a special connection with Cassie, so it only makes sense," Evan said.

"But man, you're our leader, you can't go," Ben told him.

"He's right, we need you here," Lena told him.

"Fine, it's all a right choice I suppose, but then who?"

"Caleb should go," Elmer sitaid walking toward the gang. "I think he can do the best job."

"You do?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, you've been with me, and endured hardships no one should be able to endure, I believe you can," Elmer told him.

"Then, I guess, I guess I will, if it's the only way, then it must be," Caleb said heroically.

"It won't be easy," Elmer said, handing Lena the blueprint he had been looking at.

"What's this?" she asked him.

"What they sent back, to the year 2014, a Terminator."

"What's a Terminator?" Mike asked.

"A highly intelligent Machine, which is encased in living human tissue," Elmer told them.

"Why does it need human tissue?" Caleb asked looking at the blueprint.

"To time travel, I read about it," Evan told them. " Nothing dead, or only living things can go into the time machine."

"How come, why go naked?" Caleb asked.

"I dunno I didn't invent the %#$&! thing!" Evan said.

"Ok ok, I just wanted to ask," Caleb said.

"So, what are we going to do?" Ben asked.

"I have to take my clothes off, get into the time machine, protect young 12 year old Cassie, destroy the Terminator, and stay alive?" Caleb asked.

"That's the idea at least, let's suit up people!" Lena ordered.

* * *

After an hour of precise calculations, it was time. Everyone watched as Caleb stood up to the time machine. This was it, the entire fate of the human race, now laid in the hands of a fifteen year old, a child.

"Powering up," Lena told everyone. Lights flashed, electricity went through the whole room, all this while Cassie was covering Sammy's eyes, not wanting him to see sexually inappropriate images. Caleb was lifted up, and then gone in a flash of lighting.

Then Cassie fainted.

End of Part 1

* * *

Chapter 2: Into the Past

 **Caleb and the Terminator make their landings in 2014, naked and hundreds of miles away. The two race to find Cassie, either to kill her or to protect her.**

* * *

Before Caleb had even arrived, the Terminator had already made its landing. It was a cold winter's evening, the date, December 20th. You could hear the carolors going around, the smells of baked goods coming from houses, and the sounds of the children playing in the snow. Often in the Winter, Ohio gets tons of snow, so kids go outside and spend hours playing in the snow. On this particular day, Cassie Sullivan (the younger version) was playing in a game of capture the flag with her friends. It was a Friday, the last day of school, and right when it got out, they built massive snow forts. It was amazing how fast twenty kids could build a four foot tall snow fort in only an hour. Cassie's team was tied with the other team, each had captured one flag, it all came down to this.

"Run for it Dan! We'll cover you!" Lizbeth yelled.

Dan ran to the center to retrieve the flag, but the enemy team was quite ready.

"Get him!" Cassie yelled as a brage of snowballs came hurtling at Dan. Dan was a quick and speedy kid, but he didn't stand a chance against that many snowballs.

"Return fire!" Josh yelled, but it was too late. Dan was hit, and he laid face first in the snow.

"This is it, Joe, Callie, get the flag, they're already wounded," Cassie ordered. She had always been a leader, that's why she was made team captain almost every time.

Joe and Callie charged the enemy line, the rest of the team firing a whole mess of snowballs for them. The other side tried to hit Joe and Callie, but they couldn't peek out of the fort without getting hit.

"They've got it!" Jessie yelled.

"Yes!" Cassie exclaimed.

"NO!" Josh yelled.

"I'll stop him!" Haymitch yelled, but he forgot about the snowball cover fire.

"No, wait!" Lizbeth told him.

He jumped over the fort, only to see Joe and Callie running away with the flag, and a snowball heading right for his face.

"Ooof!" Haymitch exclaimed as he fell to the ground.

"Yippee! We won!" Cassie's team yelled. And they put Joe and Callie on their shoulders. That's when things started to get a little strange.

There was a couple sparks at first, then lightning, that looked almost real.

"Guys, over here!" Lizbeth told Cassie's team.

They rushed over and ducked behind the fort, just before it arrived. There was a great flash of light. When the smoke cleared, a huge muscular (Naked) man stepped up. He had dark hair, and was at a great height, and wore nothing on his body.

"What do you think it is?" Josh whispered.

"God," Joe responded.

He looked their way. "Get down!" Cassie told them pulling both of them to ground.

He looked around for a minute, then started walking the opposite direction. There was about two feet of snow on the ground, but he marched right through it like it wasn't there.

"Who the [censored] is that?" Dan asked.

"He- he- he just appeared. In a flash of lightning. How? Where did he come from?" Lizbeth said.

"I know one thing, he didn't come from Ohio," Cassie said.

* * *

Caleb arrived only thirty minutes after the Terminator did. Though he arrived with the same lightning, he wasn't in the right place at all. He fell from one foot in the air, on to solid concrete in a deserted alley.

"Ughh, what the heck just happened?" he asked himself rubbing his head. Luckily it was nothing serious. Caleb stood up, wobilg for a second until leaning against a wall.

"Time travel takes a lot out of you, too bad I couldn't have used the Delorean."

He looked around his surroundings. He saw a few trash cans, a couple cats, and, score! Clothes. He ran over to them, before stumbling again.

"I've gotta get my legs back, I didn't know it would be this bad."

The clothes was nothing special. They were on top of a trash can, it was a tattered Star Wars shirt, an almost too small pair of shorts, and a gray beanie. Caleb felt cold, he got out of the alleyway to find himself in the center of a big bustling city. He heard the sounds of car horns, people talking, and christmas music playing. There was also a light snow coming down. He kept walking forward, taking in what he was seeing, it didn't really look much like Ohio. He wasn't looking where he was going, and nearly went on to the road. Luckily an angry driver honked the horn to alert him of his actions.

"Sorry!" he told her, but she was already speeding down the road.

He looked a little more, and noticed he was right next to a coffee shop, he went in. The blast of hot air went right over him, and he felt right at home.

"I've gotta get someone to tell me where I am," he thought to himself.

"Can I help you?" a waitress asked him.

"Yea, could you please tell me where I even am?" he asked.

"You're in Starbucks, of course!" she told him with a cheery voice. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I mean like city, or state, if I'm even in the USA."

"You serious?" she asked with a confused looked on her face. He nodded.

"Well, I don't know where you came from, but it seems you need a nice coffee, how bout I get you one right now." She started to turn around but he turned her around.

"I'm serious now, where am I?" he asked her a very serious look on his face. "Is this Ohio?"

"What, don't be ridiculous, you're in NYC!"

"NYC?"

"You know, New York City."

He rushed out of the coffee shop like a mad man.

"New York, New York?! I can't be here, Cassie needs me!" he told himself

He shivered a lot, grabbing his arms to do anything to keep warm. He had no ideas of what to do. He was only just thirteen, why did he volunteer for this mission.

"Why can't someone else go?" He whispered pleadingly into the sky.

He stood there, until an idea finally came to mind, but it was a crazy one. He planned to rob the nearest bank, buy a car with the money, use that car to travel to Ohio, then purchase some guns, and save the day.

"Now I just need to find out where the nearest bank even is," he thought. He saw a nicely dressed man with a tie walking towards him.

 _He looks smart, he has a tie,_ he thought. "Excuse me sir?" he asked him.

"Yes?" the man asked.

"Would you happen to know where the nearest bank is?" Caleb asked.

"Er, yes, just down two blocks is Wells Fargo Bank, but you might want to find some new clothes, especially in this weather," he replied.

"Thank you good man," he told him then hurried off. Only two blocks, this wouldn't be that hard. He ran until he got to the bank. A tall building of twenty stories. He walked in to the front desk. The lady there was a young one looking of twenty-two.

 _I can trick her_ , he thought. "Excuse me, could you please tell me where you keep your money? I'm doing a school report and I need to know where the banks keep their money."

"Well, if it's for that, banks normally have their money kept in storage, in a big vault, ours is just behind me."

"Thanks for that, I'll take about 200,000 dollars," he told her.

"What?"

"You heard me right!" and he laid a massive punch to her face knocking her down.

"Hey you, stop right there!" another desk clerk yelled.

Caleb ran down the hall and found the vault. "How to get in?" he asked himself.

He ran back and grabbed the other clerk by the throat.

"What's the code for the vault?!" he demanded of him.

"I'll never tell you," he told him gasping for air. Caleb tightened his grip.

"Fine… wait, let… g..o." He did, the man gasping for air.

"It's 43758."

"Thank you, you might not understand now, but you've just helped save the world."

He ran down again and put in the code. The vault opened and there were tons of bucks. He took a bag hanging on the wall and grabbed what he estimated to be about 200,000 dollars. He put the bag on his back and headed out as fast as he could. He heard police sirens as he exited the bank, and made a quick turn into an alleyway. He saw another gate on the other side and went towards it. He robbed the bank, step one, done. Now all he needed to do was to get some better clothes and a sweet fast ride to get to Cassie before the Terminator did. But the Terminator had the same plans as Caleb.

Though much more violent, It has also gotten clothes, and more than that, weapons. After he left Cassie's snowball fight he went right up to a small apartment complex. It was not very big, but not too small either. There were about seventy apartments, each about two stories. The Terminator walked up to the first one he saw. It had a blue door, and two cars were parked in the driveway. He knocked, and a little kid about seven answered the door. He looked up, and ran away without shutting the door.

"Mommy, Mommy! There's a naked man standing in our doorway!" he told his mother.

"What!" she said. He was already at the kitchen.

"Get the $! out of my house!" she yelled at him. Her son ran into the living room and jumped behind a couch.

"Miles! Help!" she exclaimed grabbing a kitchen knife to defend herself. She ran at him and attempted to stab him. The knife went through the skin, and broke as it hit the metal endoskeleton. He grabbed her arm and twisted it, it cracked.

"Ahhh! He snapped my arm! Help!"

He then wrung her neck, killing her.

"Dad help us!" the little boy cried still behind the couch.

He started to head toward the little boy, but then an angry father hit him on the back of the head with a barbell. Of course it did no damage.

"# *! You killed my wife you #*%&$ ! maniac!" he yelled at it.

The Terminator didn't miss a beat. The dad swung again, but it grabbed the bar and hit him with it on the skull, knocking him dead on the ground. It threw the barbell down, and went upstairs. Because the father was a tall strong man, the clothes would fit it perfectly. It took a leather jacket, black T, and blue jeans. It also searched some more and found a pair of dark sunglasses. The father was apparently a hunter, because he had animal trophies all over the house. There was a deer head, a bull head, and a whole rhino in the garage. It went down into the basement, and found his weapon stash. It found a whole array of weapons. It took a pump shotgun, a Glock 19 and Glock 45, and an AKM. Fully loaded now, with a full array of weapons, The Terminator stole the keys to the Father's F-250 and got on his way to locate Cassie.

* * *

At the Ram dealership, Caleb was just sneaking in. Because he was only fifteen, he could never buy a truck, so he'd have to steal one. Right away, he found the _No Admittance_ door. He casually walked towards the door.

"Need something, sonny?" a man at the desk asked.

"I'm just going to my parents down the hallway," he quickly answered.

"Alright then," the man replied.

 _Close call,_ he thought. Caleb finally got to the door, and waited until no one was looking. He then opened the door with lighting speed, and shut it behind him.

"Good thing I'm outta that mess," he told himself.

"Kid, what are you doing in here?" a lady asked.

"Well you see…" he started as he walked towards her.

"I'm gonna have to report you," she told him.

"Forgive me," he said, then laid a punch on her face.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed her hands over her nose. He hit her again on the gut, then grabbed a mop. He swung and heard a crack as the mop snapped as he brought it on her head. The woman fell on her face, whimpering and crying.

"Boy, what a cheap mop," Caleb said and looked for the right pair of keys so he could make it to Ohio. There were several different tags on several different drawers. There was one for the 1500s, the 2500s, and the 3500s. He opened the drawer for the 2500s, and grabbed the first pair that caught his eyes.

"What are you gonna do, kid?" the woman asked him.

"Sorry about hitting you, but the fate of the world depends on it, you don't understand, but just remember to thank me if and when you survive it," he told her. He then quickly ran out the door and out to the parking lot. Of course, no one paid any attention to him, he was only a kid. He kept pressing the unlock button on the keys. He walked around button still pressed until he found the truck that had lit headlights.

 _There it is!_ He thought to himself. He opened the door, hopped in, and started the truck. He then continued to get out and was on the road to Ohio.

"I just hope she's not dead yet."

* * *

Chapter 3: Race to the Sullivans

 **Caleb arrives in Ohio and finds the Sullivans, before setting off to steal guns. More and more people die mysteriously as the Terminator wends his way towards Cassie.**

* * *

Caleb arrived in Ohio fourteen hours later. It was dark, so he hurried to find the Sullivan's house. The Sullivans' house was on the far east side of town. Cassie had told him the address before he left, so he followed it. The house was a two story one, with a blue paint job. He parked in the driveway, and got out of the car.

"If these are like normal adults, they'll be awake at 11:00 at night."

He walked towards the door and knocked on it, and then waited. No one came to door for about a minute, so he knocked again, this time longer and with more force. In a few seconds, a older bigger man came to the door.

"Who are you?" Mr. Sullivan asked looking down at Caleb.

"My name is Caleb, and I need to see your daughter."

"Not at this time of night, come back tomorrow morning." He started to shut the door when Caleb stopped him.

"At least let me in for half an hour, and I'll tell you everything I know."

"How do I know you're not dangerous?"

"Because, I can tell you that you have two children, Sammy is little and age one , while your older daughter Cassie is eleven."

"Doesn't mean you're not dangerous. In fact, that could just be because you know Cassie from school."

The sound of crying echoed from upstairs.

"Well, crap. You've woken the baby," Mr. Sullivan said exasperatedly.

"Let me in, let me spend the night here, and I'll tell you all in the morning, if you don't let me, Cassie will be in even graver danger."

"And that'll be Cassie, waking up," Mr. Sullivan said again. There were thumps and stuff.

"Seriously, I _need_ to talk to Cassie," Caleb said.

"No," Mr. Sullivan replied.

Suddenly, Caleb had an inspiration. He reached into his pocket and pulled out five-hundred dollars from his heist.

"You see this money?" Caleb asked. "This will be yours if you let me in for a half an hour."

Mr. Sullivan thought for a moment.

"All right then, come in, but no loud noises you hear?"

"I understand, Mr. Sullivan," Caleb replied. He walked over the threshold behind Mr. Sullivan, into the living room.

"Stay right here, I'm gonna go fix trouble upstairs," Mr. Sullivan said. He walked up the staircase, leaving Caleb to ponder the living room.

There was a large TV above a fireplace. Near the fireplace, two large chintz armchairs were sitting. There was also a couch up against the wall, which Caleb moved towards right away. He sat down, and waited for Mr. Sullivan.

When Mr. Sullivan came downstairs, he immediately sat down in one of the armchairs.

"All right, kid," he said. "Here's your chance to explain."

* * *

"So, you're saying that you, from the future, were sent by future Cassie, to save her, from a machine, sent from the future also, to kill her?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"That's right sir, and I'll need your help."

"What for?"

"Cassie told me you have a gun license, could you please go out and buy some guns for me?"

"With what money? And why didn't you bring your own?"

"I had to go naked, nothing unliving can time travel."

"Why?"

"I didn't invent the %#& ! thing!"

"All right, not so loud, or I'll kick you out," he said with a yawn.

"Ok, I'll leave for about two hours, come back, sleep, and tell you more tomorrow morning," he said.

"What are you doing kid, I don't understand."

"No, I don't expect you to, or anyone, but you will in about four years."

"What will happen then?" he asked Caleb as he started to head out the door.

"The Others," Caleb told him, walking out.

The Others, it echoed over and over again like a bell going off in at the 12th hour. He could die, and everyone he loved as well, it was the question, what would happen. For they had not known, or would have even suspected, that They were watching them, like a hawk staring at his prey.

* * *

Caleb planned to go and steal some guns. That's just what he did.

Caleb walked out of the Sullivan's house, jumped in his stolen truck and headed down the avenue towards city center, where he knew he could find a nice gun store. It was the dead of night, so Caleb hoped he could get in and out relatively unseen.

Caleb switched the radio to MCN (Mega City News) so he could keep track of events. He heard the voice of the well-known Tim Wallace reporting the news:

"The most recent in a string of mysterious murders in the city, elderly Melvin McMannister was found dead from a gunshot wound near the more suburban area of the city. This crime spree began when Miles and Verity Banning's bodies were found in their own home. Their young son claims he saw them murdered by a completely naked man, who took the families' guns and clothes before leaving. More deaths continued to occur, starting in the center of the city and slowly progressing eastward until the murder of McMannister. All in all, it's totalled up to be about sixteen mysterious deaths, all in the space of twenty-four hours. The police are on the case as we speak."

Caleb realized how much he needed to hurry, because the Terminator seemed to have at least a general idea of where Cassie was, and it wasn't afraid to kill anyone it came across.

"On an interesting side note, a recent bank heist in NYC has police here interested. The NYC cops believe that the thief, who was supposedly a boy around fourteen to fifteen years old, has stolen a car and has driven to Mega City. The police here are also looking for this mystery boy. There is a reward for anyone willing to provide information on a boy matching the following description:" Wallace then proceeded to chant various features of Caleb's appearance.

 _Well, that's great,_ Caleb thought to himself. _Now the police are after me, and I'm about to go rob a gun store._

Caleb kept driving, however, until he reached Hyatt Guns. When he parked in front of the place, he noticed police parked a few streets down. _Crap,_ he thought to himself. _I'm gonna have to break in without triggering the burglar alarm._

Caleb opened the door and discretely climbed out of the car. He walked towards the place, putting his hands on the doorknob, and twisting. Locked. Crap.

Caleb knew that going through the window would set off the burglar alarm.

"Guess I'd better go around back," he said to himself softly.

Caleb walked around the side of the building, checking for a door. When he reached the back, he saw a back door standing ajar.

 _If I go in, it might set off the burglar alarm,_ Caleb thought to himself. _But it might not. I'll try it._

Caleb walked through the door. Immediately, a blaring alarm sounded.

"[censored]," he said quietly. It was too late now: he'd have to go through with it.

Caleb dashed through the back door into the rear storage room. The room was lined with crates, each with a label: one said Bolt-Action Rifles, another said Revolvers, another said Lever Action Shotguns, and so forth. There were also big see through boxes of clips, and a shelf lined with personal tasers.

Caleb had barely taken in the room when he heard the sounds of cars driving up and sirens blaring. He quickly opened his duffle and started shoving in as many guns and bullets as possible. He grabbed one of the semi-automatic rifles for himself and shoved in an eight round clip. He finished off his ensemble by attaching two of the personal tasers to his belt.

He heard the front door opening with a bang, and he stood with both tasers at the ready and the rifle leaning against him for future use. He also heard people running around behind the building.

"Secure the perimeter!" he heard a voice yell from the front room. "He's in the back! We're going in!"

Just when he said that, two cops from the front room busted down the door, charging in. Immediately, Caleb fired both tasers into their chests. The cops gasped from pain, and both fell on the ground. Caleb dropped both tasers and turned to the other door, where he heard more cops coming to flank him.

Caleb aimed for a shelf above the doorway full of clips. As soon as the cops walked through the doorway, Caleb fired above them. The box fell, hitting one of the cops and knocking him over. In the moment of confusion, Caleb ran out the door into the front.

Two cops were waiting, and they both aimed pistols at Caleb. Caleb dropped hard on the ground, hitting his chin as the two bullets hit the wall over his head. Chunks of drywall fell on Caleb as the cops moved around to take him out.

Caleb reached wildly into his duffle and came out with an empty revolver. When the first cop came around the corner, Caleb threw the gun at him as hard as he could. It hit him in the head, and Caleb took the opportunity to lunge for his feet. The stunned cop fell over backwards into his comrade, and both of them went crashing down. Caleb grabbed his rifle, pounding each one over the head with it in turn. At that precise moment, the other cops from the back room came around the corner with their pistols raised.

"Drop your weapon!" one yelled. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Caleb knew there was nothing for it but to comply. He lowered the gun to the ground, and put his hands above his head. The first cop, the one who hadn't talked, moved forwards to secure Caleb with handcuffs.

When the officer was right in front of him, Caleb aimed a hearty kick at his stomach. As he doubled over in pain, Caleb rushed him, sending him flying backwards into his compatriot. Caleb quickly flung his duffle bag into them, sending the two cops flying into the wall in a heap. As they flew, Caleb picked up the rifle and rushed them, slamming the stock into the first cop's stomach. The first cop fell off of the cop who was pinned beneath him: Caleb quickly slammed the stock of the gun into his head. With the second cop unconscious, Caleb turned and rammed the first with his gun.

Caleb wasted no time seeing if he was unconscious or not. He ran out the door with his gun and duffle and jumped into the truck. He slammed on the gas and drove away.

After the initial shock of the situation faded off, Caleb felt pretty good about himself. He had just taken down six fully grown men almost easily without permanently damaging anyone.

Meanwhile, the Terminator was also taking people down, though there was plenty of permanent damage involved. It had triangulated the location of Cassie's neighborhood thanks to coordinates implanted in his brain upon construction. It walked calmly through the neighborhood gate after smashing it down, and It immediately came across a group of young children riding bicycles. The kids paid It no mind: plenty of people wandered around their neighborhood carrying rifles. It was common practice in Mega City, at least if you didn't want to be robbed. However, they paid a bit more attention to It when he shot the youngest boy off of his bike.

The kids all turned to see It with it's AKM pointed at another young girl. The kids all shrieked in various fashions and started biking. The Terminator preferred to keep his witnesses at a minimal: it proceeded to pick off five kids with the AKM. Two kids made it to their parents, though the Terminator knew which houses they ran into. Oh well. It would have to waste more time it could spend hunting The Girl, because witnesses were unacceptable.

It walked calmly towards the first house, preparing to finish off the witnesses. It would most likely find Cassie's house within the hour. Then, it could change the future, and save The Others from certain demise.

It's twin would finish the other girl.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Terminators

 **Lena makes a shocking discovery. In the past, Caleb returns to Cassie's house just in time to flee from the deadly Terminator.**

* * *

 **Evan Walker**

"Oh my God," Evan heard Lena whisper from the computer. Apparently, the computer had a program on it meant to track disturbances in time, and it also kept a record of all targets killed by a Terminator. Already, they had determined that John Wilkes Booth, Ramon Mercader, and Lee Harvey Oswald were Terminators, sent to kill people who threatened the Other's agenda. Lena had also been keeping track of Caleb's and the Terminator's movements, due to the fact that them being there created slight time disturbances everywhere they went.

Evan turned towards Lena, expecting to hear about another famous assassin who was actually a Terminator. Instead, he found Lena looking at the list of targets. Staring at a very familiar name.

Evan rushed over to her and looked at the screen, to see the name Lena Imbala typed.

"What? What is it?" Mike asked, rushing over as well.

"Lena's on the list, too," Evan said. Lena just sat there, looking frantic.

"She is? Holy crap!" Mike said. He appeared to be slightly panicking.

"Lena's on the list?" Cassie asked, amazed.

"Ya," Elmer said. He had also rushed forward. "Lena's on the list."

A moment of silence followed this pronouncement.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Mike asked loudly. "Send someone else back!"

"We're waiting for someone to volunteer," Sammy said.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Mike said again. "I should go!"

"No," Elmer said quietly.

"Well, why not?" Mike asked, clearly affronted.

"Well, there's the matter of having a healthy relationship with your wife," Elmer replied. "If you go back, it stands to reason that when you catch up with us, you'll be four years older. That's kind of an age gap."

"Well, Evan's four years older than Cassie," Mike retorted.

"Well, keep in mind that it's Cassie and Evan we're talking about, here," Elmer said reasonably. "Plus, you have a baby that you need to help raise. I will go instead. I should be able to protect little Lena."

Everyone thought for a moment. Then Mike shrugged.

"Fine," he said. "I'll stay here and do whatever."

"Alright, let's get a move on, people!" Evan said loudly. "It's obvious that Lena hasn't died in the past, yet." _This is making my brain hurt,_ Evan thought to himself. "Send him back, already."

* * *

The T-1000 sent to terminate Lena Imbala wasn't doing as well as the T-800 who was hunting Cassie Sullivan. For one thing, Lena's patterns of life were a lot more irregular than Cassie's. For example, around this time of year, Cassie would always be very near her house. She would be playing in the snow near her house, or perhaps reading, taking a nap, or dreaming about Ben Parish. Her parents would let her stay home alone most of the time for a holiday treat, and they definitely put a lot of trust in their daughter.

Lena Imbala, however, was a different story.

The Others, despite their massive intelligence and technological advancements, neglected to give the T-1000 and coordinates other than that of her home. But Lena Imbala was rarely at home, even at Christmastime.

For one thing, she went to a two-hour school type thing from one to three every day, even on weekends and holidays, unless she was having normal school times. She attended weekly Dungeons and Dragons sessions in a library five miles away from her house. She enjoyed going to Justin and Mike's houses for sleepovers, and tended to do it every night she could. If she was in her neighborhood, she would typically be having tea with her parents at their neighbor's house (always a different house). Her irregular schedules were extremely hard to track, causing the T-1000 to venture all around town.

Elmer arrived not a moment too soon. When he landed in Mega City, he wasted no time. He immediately robbed some poor gentleman of his clothes (they were a bit too big, but nothing unrecoverable). He then set out to Lena's school, hoping to find her first.

* * *

Caleb came back in the morning, eyes bloodshot, with a few scrapes on his face. He walked through the door, carrying a large duffle bag almost as big as him.

"What happened to you?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"I got the… tools I needed," he replied.

"What tools?" Cassie asked.

"Um, things to help save you, from Satan," he replied quickly.

"Ok, dad, can I go watch some TV?" Cassie asked.

"If it's ok with your mom, then sure."

"Yes, you may watch one cartoon, but no more," her mother told her.

"Thanks!" and she ran upstairs not wanting to miss her favorite show.

"Hey, Mr. Sullivan, help with this duffel bag will you?" Caleb asked.

"Sure, we can take that out to the garage."

Caleb and Mr. Sullivan each grabbed and end.

"Ready, heave, ho!" Caleb chanted.

"Honey, please open the door," Mr. Sullivan asked.

His wife went and opened the door for them.

"Keep it down, I can't hear!" Cassie yelled from upstairs.

They set the bag down, and it made a loud sound.

"What do you have in here, bricks?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"No, something much better," Caleb told him, and he unzipped the bag.

Many guns and bullets fell out. There were four six shooters, three bolt action rifles, two lever action shotguns, (one a M1887), and a semi-automatic AR-15.

"How are you going to use all those?" he asked Caleb.

"Well, I'll use the AR, M1887, and two pistols, I'll need you to use some if you know how."

"I can remember how to, but why do you need me?"

"As backup in case I fail."

"Why did you come here Caleb, you could die, and your just a kid," Mr. Sullivan asked sadly.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, Cassie is one of the only hopes we have."

"What do you mean, one of?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"She's one of many, some you'll meet later on, and then you'll die, but for now, on to business!" he exclaimed.

Mr. Sullivan picked up the other shotgun and several clips. He slung it over his back, and also took one of the six-shooters. Caleb grabbed a little pack of gunpowder, and he put it in a glass jar. He then took the lid, and poked a hole in it. He put a thing string through the hole, and then attached it to his belt.

"What's that?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"It's a makeshift grenade, the best weapon we have against the Terminator," Caleb replied.

"Nice, where do you want me?"

"You should be driving, you're older and you have more experience," Caleb replied.

"Alright, I'll stay here in the car for a quick getaway."

That's when Caleb heard a shout from the kitchen.

"Oliver, there's a man with a rifle walking towards the front door!" It was Mrs. Sullivan.

"[censored]," Caleb muttered under his breath. "Hold on, I need to set my grenade trap."

He ran over to the door, and tied the makeshift grenade to the door, he then pulled a longer string over to where he was, which was the stairs, and he held a lighter over it.

"Places!" he yelled. "Mrs. Sullivan, get your daughter, now!"

The Terminator knocked on the door, and waited for one minute, before forcing it open.

"Come and get some!" Caleb yelled lighting the string. He ran upstairs, and just as he got there, he heard a loud explosion, and firing shots.

"What was that?!" Cassie yelled.

Caleb ran into the TV room and stood in front of her. Suddenly, the sprinklers turned on, and the fire alarm as well.

"Well crap, I'm getting all wet!" she complained.

"Shut up!" Caleb told her.

"Don't tell me what to…" Caleb covered her mouth, shotgun in hand.

He could hear it coming up the stairs. It was a terrible sensation, to know he could die this very moment. He could hear the movement of mechanical parts barely through the loud sound of the fire alarm. He took a quick peak, and there, with the top half completely burned off, was the Terminator. Caleb continued to stare, which is why the Terminator saw them. He let off the AKM.

"Duck!" Caleb yelled covering Cassie from the incoming bullets. They went through the couch, the sound of the gun deafening. Caleb overturned a table and used it as a shield.

"Stay here!" He told Cassie, who was shaking with fear.

He jumped over the couch, like a hero. The Terminator fired a shotgun blast, but Caleb jumped off and rolled, and emptied his clip of the M1887. The first shot hit the head, as well as the second, then the rest hitting various parts in the chest, knocking It slightly back with every shot. But the Terminator was well armored, it jumped right back once Caleb's clip was out. Caleb threw it at the Terminator, but it bounced off. He leaped for the AR, but a shot from the Terminator's shotgun stopped him.

"Argh!" he exclaimed as the bullet hit his right leg. He tried to grab the gun but the Terminator put both hands on his back. It flung him across the room, hitting the tv. Caleb made moaning sounds as the TV landed on his right leg. The Terminator walked toward, him, and Caleb made his final stand, firing shot after shot of his six shooters, but they did barely anything. Cassie ran over to him.

"Leave him alone!" She screamed.

"Cassie,... hide, get out of here!" Caleb told her.

It aimed the shotgun at Cassie and prepared to fire, but a sudden blast in the back made it miss. Caleb saw flames in the back. The Terminator turned around, before being hit again with what seemed like a grenade launcher. It stumbled backwards before falling, and there, standing on it, was someone who looked like Elmer, then he passed out.

"C'mon Cassie, it's not long before the backup power comes on," and he took Caleb and Cassie, and headed downstairs, Lena was also there. They all piled into Mr. Sullivan's car, and they drove off.

"Who are you people, how did you get here?" Cassie asked.

"My name is Elmer, this is Lena, we've all met at some point," Elmer said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Mr. Sullivan.

"Well, it's true!" Elmer said. "In the future, we've all met! Well, I guess neither of you," he pointed at the two adult Sullivans, "have ever met me, because you died before you got the chance, but you've met Lena, and Lena's met me, and Cassie's met me, and we've all met Ben Parish and Evan Walker and a great deal of very important people. Oh yeah, and Justin and Mike have also met Cassie. Justin loved Cassie, but Cassie ran off with someone else instead, but Justin never gave up."

Everyone else in the car was looking extremely confused.

"Forget it," Elmer finished. "Oh ya, I forgot about little Sammy! Ya, we all met Sammy in the future, he was a great help fighting."

Mrs. Sullivan blinked once, twice. Caleb stirred in his sleep. Sammy started crying.

"What happened up there?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"Well, the Terminator went straight for Cassie and Caleb," Elmer said. "Caleb was keeping the Terminator occupied while Cassie hid, and I came in with Lena to kill the Terminator."

"So, why are we still running away?" asked Mr. Sullivan. "It's dead. Doesn't that mean we're safe?"

"Not really," Elmer replied. "You see, there wasn't just one Terminator sent back in time. There were two. One was sent to kill Cassie, and that one's dead now. The other one is much more powerful and was sent back to kill Lena. Now that his brother is dead, the T-1000, which is what the other Terminator is called, will try to kill both Lena and Cassie. At the moment, the T-1000 is raiding Lena's school and killing a great deal of students and teachers. Also, the T-800 has a backup power source which might activate depending on where it's damaged. Which is why we must remain mobile."

"So, what you're saying is, there's another one?" asked Caleb feebly.

"Yes," Elmer replied solemnly. "And we need to kill it."

* * *

Chapter 5: Fight and Flight

 **Caleb, Elmer, the Sullivans, and young Lena wend their way across town towards the industrial sector, keeping the radio tuned to MCN 24/7. In the present, Marika investigates time disturbances and develops an interesting theory.**

* * *

While Elmer, Lena, Cassie and Caleb were running from the ever growing danger, things got pretty bad in the present.

Marika was sitting in front of the computer, watching more time disturbances than could be possible for four people to create. As she examined the time warps, she realized that there was only one possibility for what could be happening.

"Guys," Marika said.

"What now?" asked Evan. "Let me guess: they sent back another Terminator to kill _me,_ so I wouldn't be able to help out Cassie."

"No," Marika replied. "Well, you were right about the first bit: they are sending back more Terminators, but they're all appearing in Mega City."

"Guys!" Sammy yelled from the Time Machine room.

"What!" Mike, Evan, and Cassie yelled at the same time.

"The Time Machine's gone!" Sammy called back.

* * *

After they found out about more terminators being sent back in time, Evan knew they could take nothing to chance. After a bit of searching, Marika found an elevator. Inside, there were thirty buttons. Two were emergency buttons, but the rest floor 1-28. Evan lead and decided that they would send a group of three people down, and the rest would stay behind. The rest of the people would watch the time disturbances. The decision was that Evan, Marika, and Lena would make up the group.

"If were going to cover all this ground, I suggest thirty minutes to scout out each floor," Evan suggested.

"That would seem like enough time," Cassie agreed.

"What if we need more time to scout out?" Marika asked.

Evan looked at the ceiling for a moment before replying. "I have some tape, put a yellow tape on a button, for a floor we'll need to come back to. A green tape on the floors that we know for sure are safe. And a red tape for the floors that look like trouble,"

"That would be great!" Lena replied.

"Ok then, first off on floor twenty-seven," Evan told them. The Elevator stopped, and they stepped out.

"Good luck, and don't forget…" Mike started to tell them.

"We know, only half and hour, and those tape things," Marika said.

Evan, Lena, and Marika stepped into the elevator, while everyone else waved goodbye. "We'll check on them every once in a while."

They went down to the 27th floor, not realizing the danger that lay ahead of them.

* * *

The 27th floor was very interesting, there lay hundreds of metal cases.

"What is all this?" Marika asked.

"It has to be a warehouse level," Lena concluded.

"I know that, but I mean what's in them?" Marika asked.

"Well, the best way to answer that is to open them, stand back!" Evan told them.

"What's he going to do?" Marika whispered to Lena.

"If I have a guess, he's about to do some damage," she replied.

Evan took a few steps back, and he charged one of the crates with full force. What was expected though did not happen. There was a loud crack as Evan went flying backwards into another metal crate, and the same thing happened. Evan bounced around off several crates before he was able to sidestep one and crash into the wall.

"Ow!" Evan said loudly, over the sounds of Lena and Marika laughing.

"What was that?" Evan wondered out loud.

"Not sure," Lena told him. "I think it may have been an electrical pulse."

"What, like lightning?" Marika asked.

"Right, I just need to test it," she said pulling out her M16.

"What is she going to do?" Evan asked Marika.

"Just watch," she responded.

Lena touched the barrell to the crate and there was a flash of light and a sound like an explosion. Lena quickly took her hands off the gun before the electricity could get to her body.

"So I was right," Lena said aloud.

"Why would a metal crate have an electrical field?" Evan asked.

"Maybe because there's something in there, which they don't want us to know about," Marika said.

"What, what could be so important the others wouldn't want us to know about?" Evan asked.

"Well, many things, such as maybe where they live," Lena told them.

"You can't keep a planet in a box!" Marika protested.

"Well, let's put a yellow tape on this, and keep going," Lena said.

They exited out and went into the elevator. Evan put the yellow tape on the 27th floor, and they went down to the 26th floor.

"What this?!" Marika demanded as the elevator doors opened.

"Why, I don't understand," Lena stammered.

"Well, I aint attempting to bust into one of these things again," Evan told them. For what they saw, they were all shocked by, confused, annoyed, and shocked. There were the same exact metal crates there were on the last floor.

"Well this is great, if every floor is like this, let's just go back up to the surface," Marika complained.

"Stop complaining!" Evan demanded. "If every floor is like this, all we have to do is check, it won't take very long."

"He's right," Lena agreed. "To the elevator!" she exclaimed and did a little classic batman music to go with it. Evan put another yellow tape on the 26th floor button, and Marika hit the 25th floor button. When it stopped the doors opened. (Well duh, what else would they do?)

"How can it be the same darn hecky thing!" Marika complained. "Next level!" And she hit the 24th floor button. When the doors opened, there were the same metal crates.

"Next!" Marika yelled and hit the 23rd floor button.

It was the same thing until floor 17. Each time the doors opened, the same metal crates were there. The doors barely even opened and Marika knew. She then yelled "Next!" and pressed the next button. Lena was desperately hoping for something new on the 16th floor. Maybe something to test her brain knowledge.

"Well," Evan told everyone. "Let's hope this next floor isn't the same darn crates, then we might be able to have some fun, Marika?" She pressed the button. As the arrived at the 16th floor, the doors opened. It was the same metal crates.

"Well, how 'bout we just go back to floor twenty-seven and try to open them?" Evan suggested.

"Good idea," Marika decided

* * *

Meanwhile, in the past…

The Sullivans, young Lena, Elmer, and Caleb had been driving along, extremely cramped, in the small prius (Mr. Sullivan drove, Mrs. Sullivan rode in the passenger seat, Elmer was sitting in the backseat middle, Caleb was sitting on the backseat right, and Cassie was holding Sammy in the backseat left) for three hours, and everyone was getting mad.

"Why are we going to the industrial sector, again?" Mr. Sullivan asked. "Why can't we just hide somewhere inconspicuous and let the authorities deal with the Terminator?"

"The authorities can't deal with the Terminator," Elmer replied. "There's really only one way to kill it, and that way is in the industrial sector."

"Dad, I'm hungry," Cassie said. "Can we pull into McDonald's real quick, or something?"

Caleb felt sympathetic for Cassie's fate. He hadn't eaten in several hours.

"Fine!" Mr. Sullivan yelled angrily. He turned aggressively, jerking the car into the Wendy's driveway, to Cassie and Sammy yelping with fright, Mrs. Sullivan yelling "Oliver!" at her husband, and a particularly loud "Oi!" from Elmer. Mr. Sullivan slammed on the breaks and miraculously avoided crashing into the back of the nice new BMW in front of them. A man was leaning out of the window, ordering some food.

"Dad, I wanted Mcdonalds, not Wendy's!" Cassie complained.

"Well, Wendy's is better," he told her.

"Alright, I'll take a Kid's Meal, make sure I get the toy as well," the man said in a deep, masculine voice. "Oh, and also, what toy is it that you are selling today?"

"In our Kid's Meals? Let me check…." the woman on the other end of the microphone muttered something unintelligible, then spoke up again. "We're selling miniature Thanos Cars (I had to I'm sorry, and I know that in 2014, Thanos Car wasn't even a thing. Just goes to show, doesn't it?)."

"Okay, great," the man in the BMW replied. He started pulling forward, but before he did so, his head turned, and Caleb made eye contact with him. His eyes were cold and devoid of emotion, inhuman, almost… machinelike. It was only a momentary sensation, however. The driver turned his head forward and started driving towards the pay window.

Caleb didn't know how to warn Mr. Sullivan and the others: the Terminator sitting in the car in front of them obviously hadn't noticed that Cassie and Lena were in the car, because it wasn't turning to attack. It's heightened hearing would pick up just about anything that they said, however. Why the Terminator was ordering Kids Meals and Thanos Cars, Caleb didn't know. All he knew was that they must not alert it to their presence, but they must all know that it's there.

"Ya, I'll take a Dave's Double," Mr. Sullivan said. "What do you guys want?"

Caleb was shaken out of his thought process by Mr. Sullivan's statement, and he started thinking about what he wanted while the others put forth their requests.

"And you, Caleb?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"I'll take a Kid's Meal." _I want a Thanos Car, whatever it is._

"Anything to drink?"

"Um, a coke or something," Caleb replied.

"Alright, so our final order, not counting my Dave's Double, is one Son-of-a-Baconator; one Six Piece Chicken Nugget; one Baconator; one Kid's Meal; and five cokes," said Mr. Sullivan.

"Ok, here it is," said the Wendy's lady handing him three big bags full of their food.

"Thanks," Mr. Sullivan said and he drove away. "Honey, please pass out the food to the kids."

She did, and each ate until they were full, and of course, Cassie complained about something.

"Dad! What about my chocolate milk, I didn't want a Thanos Car, how come my burger is so small…"

"It's a wonder she was even able to lead us," Elmer whispered to Caleb.

"Cassie, be quiet, you're blessed enough to even go here," Mrs. Sullivan told her.

"But Mom!"

"Not another word, I don't want to hear it."

The group pulled out of Wendy's and headed up the street towards the Highway. Unbeknownst to them, there was a Terminator following, it was only a matter of time before they found out why. It was riding a Harley Davidson, and the signature leather jacket on, and black shades.

"By the way," Caleb said, "did you guys notice that there was a Terminator in the Drive Thru?"

Elmer choked on his coke, Cassie dropped her Thanos Car, Mrs. Sullivan yelled "What!", and Mr. Sullivan almost crashed the car for the second time that day.

While they were all panicking, Elmer leaned over and whispered to Caleb some things.

"Hey, before we all panic, could you please pull over?" Elmer asked.

"Uh, sure thing," Mr. Sullivan responded and pulled over, Caleb opened the door.

"Hey, why is there a motorcycle on the road, and the keys are still in it," Cassie wondered.

"I'll explain all this later," Caleb told them getting on the bike.

"Where are you going, you have to save Cassie!" Lena told him.

"Elmer can handle that, but I feel this is more important, it will give you guys a chance to escape," He told them, and then he drove off in the other direction.

"Dad, we have to go after him!" Cassie whined.

"No, we keep heading to the industrial district, this is the only way," Elmer told them.

Mr. Sullivan pulled back onto the road, and kept driving.

"Why would you do that?" Lena asked Elmer.

"I had to, it was the only way to save you.

Meanwhile, Caleb was racing towards the T-1000. He planned to delay it's travels as much as possible, so that Cassie could get away. But also, there was a T-800 in the Harley Davidson. The T-1000 saw him speed past, and made a U Turn. Whatever bike Elmer had picked, it wasn't fast enough to get Caleb away.

* * *

Chapter 6: Casebreaking

 **In the present, the TAAO Gang enjoys interesting discussion, while their friends, Evan, Lena, and Marika, discover the secrets of the upper floors of the mysterious rock. In the past, Caleb fights the T-1000 while Elmer, Lena, and the Sullivans set up a trap for the T-1000 in the industrial district.**

* * *

In the upper floor of the rock, the TAAO Gang were attempting to enjoy each other's company. Mike was having a heated argument with Sammy about the validity of fascism as a system of government. Ben was lounging casually near the door, playing with his M16. Cassie was feeding the three babies, who were all feeling quite cranky. Eventually, Sammy's and Mike's argument ended with Sammy disgraced and Mike's ego a little bit bigger than it was before.

"Alright, guys," Mike said. "What do you say I take out the provisions?"

"The provisions?" Ben said skeptically.

"Ya, the provisions!" Mike opened his travel pack to reveal boxes upon boxes of Cap'n Crunch.

"Let's see…" Mike said pompously. "I've found basically every flavor there is of Captain Crunch, kind of unfortunate that I don't have any milk… anyways, I've got enough for all of us to have one box!"

"Mike, where's all your other stuff?" Cassie asked.

"Well, my sleeping bag's over there," Mike replied. He pointed to where his Garfield sleeping bag was rolled out between Lena's and Ben's.

"What about your other stuff?" Cassie asked, her voice becoming dangerously loud. Mike looked down at his feet sheepishly.

"Well, um, it's probably turned to glass, now, like the rest of Phoenix," he said quietly.

Cassie put down baby James, who immediately started squawking, and walked towards Mike, slowly and dangerously. All eyes were on the pair.

"So let me get this straight," Cassie said, when she was barely three feet away from Mike. Mike recoiled.

"No water," she said. "No rations, no extra ammo." Every time she said something, she counted one number on her fingers.

" _No knife! No compass! No map! No matches!"_ She was still walking forward. Mike fell off of his seat and started crab-walking backwards.

"NO EXTRA CLOTHES! NO DIAPERS! NO MESS KIT! Oh, but you've got plenty of _Cap'n Crunch!"_ her voice was becoming dangerously loud. Mike backed into a wall with nowhere else to go.

"And now, I guess for the rest of our trip, you won't be drinking any water, because I sure as [censored] ain't giving you any of mine, and the only thing you'll be eating is Cap'n Crunch, which'll just make you more thirsty!" Now, Mike was trying to climb the wall to escape from a clearly incensed Cassie. He was majestically failing.

"Wow," Ben said from the other side of the room, " _someone's_ feeling grumpy."

Cassie stopped marching forward and turned towards Ben. Mike sighed in relief, but Ben clearly looked mortified.

"Well, _Ben Parish._ " She put so much emphasis on his name that it hurt. Ben started to open the door to flee into the desert, but it wouldn't budge. Sammy was holding the electronic lock, and he had the door shut.

"How about _you_ try doing my job," Cassie said. "Keeping three babies happy with no bottle, no crib, and no nursery rhymes, while knowing you can drop dead at any second."

"Cassie, your child is screaming," Mike said. Cassie turned, and sure enough, all three babies were yelling for Cassie to come back. Immediately, all the the anger left Cassie's face.

"Aw, you poor babies!" she cried, and she immediately ran back over to the kids.

Ben and Mike looked at each other.

"It's amazing how quickly she can change from Raging Rhino Mode to Compassionate Caring Mode," Mike remarked.

"That's how they all are," Ben replied.

"Who?" Mike asked.

"Mothers," Ben replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the mysterious rock, Lena, Marika, and Evan were accomplishing something meaningful!

They had returned to the 27th floor, and were attempting to break into the crates.

"I get the feeling that we just need to cut the circuit to shut off the electric field," Lena decided after a few minutes of observing the crates. "Then, Evan can bust them open."

"Well, then, I suppose all we need is scissors?" Marika asked.

"I doubt that your average scissors are gonna be able to cut through pure copper wires," Evan said.

"I'll use my knife," Marika replied. She dug into her pack and removed her pure steel knife. She walked towards the crate, holding it aloft.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, WOAH!" Lena called out. "If you hold that knife anywhere near the electric field, you'll get shocked just like Evan, only through a conductor like that knife, it'll be ten times worse."

"Plus, you're not a Silencer, so I reckon you'd get fried," Evan added darkly.

"Oh, alright!" Marika said loudly, stepping away from the crate. "If we can't slice it open with anything, than how are we supposed to open the crates?"

"Bullets," Evan said quietly. Lena and Marika both turned to look at him.

"Excuse me?" Lena asked.

"Well, two of us here are near-perfect shots with the rifle of our choice," Evan said. "So, Marika uses her M16 and I use my sniper, and we shoot the wires to snap them."

"Genius," Marika remarked. She lifted her M16 to her shoulder. "Now, where do I shoot?"

"Great question," Lena said. She walked towards the crate.

"Don't touch it!" Marika called out. Lena reached into her back and pulled out a package of raman.

"What are you doing with that raman?" Evan asked. Lena took the raman, and fiddled with it for a moment. She scraped it along the side of the crate, opening a small flap to reveal a hub of wires and electricity.

"Blast it all, after I get out of the way," Lena commanded. Lena stepped away, and Marika released several rounds into the circuit box.

"Now, we find out if the field is off," Evan asserted. He walked towards the box and pulled it open.

The three young adults peered into the box, expressions of awe slowly spreading across their faces.

"Mother of God," Evan said quietly.

* * *

Meanwhile: in the past.

Caleb hadn't gotten far on the bike when the T-1000 picked him up. Caleb had started on the road that traffic was coming the other way. He was a very skillful biker, but even he had to get on the other lane. He quickly weaved around the cars and got onto the other lane, still weaving through cars. The T-1000 saw the bike heading back with Caleb on it. It decided not to pursue Lena, its initial target, but hunt Caleb instead. It turned the truck around and crashed into several cars, going on to the other lane. One spun out and hit the back of an oil rig. The rig tried to brake but one of the tires popped. From the T-1000 another car didn't stop in time and rammed into the back. The Oil Rig flipped over and fell on it's side. The Driver was stuck and tried to get out.

Meanwhile, another Terminator on a bike, who was about one-hundred feet away from the van, also spotted Caleb. It scanned his face and made a match. It turned the bike around causing more havoc among the road, but went to catch up with the T-1000. The driver of the oil rig had struggled to get out and did, but as he was walking away it exploded and he was sent two-hundred feet away from the rig, half burnt to half death. Caleb saw it and believed it was a sign of trouble, he sped along, but the T-1000 was gaing on him quickly.

Elmer had picked out a bike from the 50's, because it was cheap, so max speed was forty miles per hour. Caleb looked behind him, and saw the T-1000's truck catching on him. This T-1000 was disguised as a swat officer, not good for him. He also saw many cars being crashed and people pulling over to avoid any injury. Caleb was human, the Terminators weren't, so it wouldn't stop for anything. It would take whatever human lives it needed. Caleb, who was human, didn't want innocent people to die, so he ran onto the grassland. The T-1000 and T-800 had both anticipated this move, and drove on with him. For Caleb, though it was a good kind choice, it wasn't a good choice for his life. On the grass and dirt, his motorcycle went slower than on the cement. The Truck was closing in on him, it hit Caleb's back of the bike. He leaned forward and shrieked. Seeing an opportunity, the T-1000 drew his bereta. He fired two shots. Caleb was swerving around so both shots missed. The T-1000 fired again and this shot hit the gasoline tank.

"Shoot!" Caleb thought as the bike was leaking. The other Terminator was trying to get around the truck. It pulled out the M1887 shotgun and hit one of the back wheels. The T-1000 tried to regain control as the T-800 drove around. It went up right alongside Caleb, grabbed him, and put him on his bike in front of itself. Caleb's bike still drove for a few seconds, before being run over by the truck. The T-800 gained some speed in front of it, and then turned around, driving towards it.

"What the %#! are you doing!?" Caleb asked.

The Terminator did not respond, and shot the gas tank. It reloaded, and hit another front wheel. Caleb was able to see the truck flip over and explode. The others tires were shot up as well as other pieces of glass.

"Ahhhh!" Caleb yelled as he covered his head. The Terminator kept driving and ended back up on the road.

"Whew, now at least we won't see him again," Caleb thought, but he was dead wrong. For a T-1000 was made from reforming metal, and guns and explosions could not destroy it. From the ashes of the crash, a silvery figure emerged. The T-1000 slowly regenerated until returning to its natural form. It saw a farm house not far, and headed in that direction.

On the road, Caleb and the Terminator had been traveling for an hour, he needed a rest.

"Pull over, comon, stop the bike, stop, pull over," Caleb ordered. It did as it was told.

Caleb stepped off, and asked "If you're not here to kill me, why are you here, and from where?" he asked.

"My mission is, to protect you," It answered in its deep voice.

"Who sent you, did the Others?"

"No, Sohn Black of the future did."

"Who's that?"

"You wouldn't know, but in the future, mankind has broken into war with the machines, and computer controlling it all, is called Skynet."

"What's that?"

"The advanced computer brain, that triggered the nuclear fire."  
"Nuclear? Fire!"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"In the year 2040 the computer Skynet, had been growing so much under no radar. It's only goal is to eliminate all humans of the earth. In 2040, the Real World Nation Zion has united humanity and populated the earth. Skynet fires Western missiles at the East, which triggers Nuclear War. In just one day, the world is destroyed."

"Well, when were you sent back?"

"In the year 2053."  
"Great, so what does all this have to do with me?"

"In the future, you're Sohn Black's commander. In 2048, you lead a small assault against the machine database and destroy. This creates the fire for more humans to join the fight. In just five years after that, you will have defeated the machines.

"But I thought the T-1000 was sent to kill Lena."

"Its main target was you, but a subtarget was her. Because she was close to the location for the T-1000, it attacked her. Elmer was sent back at the time you were, but the time storage notice the rip, and held it in the database."

"What did she do, why was she so important?"

"In the future, she was the main tactical strategist for the resistance. She helped the resistance be the victors in many battles, including the final battle. Without her, you would not have won, or it would have taken longer."

"What about the others, my friends I mean."

"Most of them were Terminated."

"What! How?!"

"Ones who were terminated were Cassie Sullivan, Lena Imbala, Evan Walker, Captain Sam Sullivan, and most of the kids."

"Who lived?"

"General Elmer Gates (Machine Killer) leads another resistance in Russia. Two of Cassie's children are in your resistance group in your strike team. Mike French is with Gates, and Marika and Ben Parish are with you."

"This is so bad, very bad on so many levels! Is there any way to prevent Judgement day from happening? My friends are in the machine base, they can stop it!"

"No, it's impossible to stop it from that time, by then, Skynet is in over 1,000,000 different computer systems."

"Yeah, but can WE stop it?"

"Yes, but only from this time, and we will need your friends help."

* * *

While Caleb drew the T-1000 away from Lena and Cassie, Elmer, Lena, and the Sullivans were arriving at the Industrial Sector.

Mr. Sullivan, who had traveled to the industrial sector a few times for work, kept driving straight along. However, Cassie, Elmer, and Mrs. Sullivan looked around the car in awe at the massive factories producing billows of smog into the atmosphere, and Sammy was crying from all the loud noises.

Mr. Sullivan swung his car around into a parking spot, opened the door, and got out. Elmer and Cassie followed first, then Lena, then Mrs. Sullivan carrying Sammy.

"So, this is the industrial sector," Mr. Sullivan called out over the sounds of machinery clanking. "Why did you want us to come here again?"

"The T-1000 is made out of liquid metal that reforms when it takes any sort of damage," Elmer said in a smart voice. "The only way to kill it is to use another liquid metal, so that it's molecular integrity fails and it becomes mixed up in the rest of the metal. Which is why we came here."

"So, we need to get to a foundry?" asked Mr. Sullivan.

"Yes," Elmer replied. "If there's melted metal."

"Well, of course there's melted metal in a foundry," Mrs. Sullivan said. "Isn't that what foundries are for?"

"Yes, of course," Elmer said. "Lead the way, Mr. Sullivan."

"Righto," Mr. Sullivan replied.

"Don't forget the weapons!" Cassie reminded them.

"How would we look carrying guns around with us in this place?" Elmer asked. "We'd get shot by the guards, probably."

"We'll carry pistols, just in case," Mr. Sullivan decided. He went to the trunk, popped it open, claimed a revolver, and threw a revolver to Mrs. Sullivan and Elmer. They tucked them under their jackets, and started walking behind Mr. Sullivan.

They walked down a long road between factories, coughing from the smoke and yelling to talk. Eventually, they arrived at the front door of Venue Refining Corporation.

"Here we are," Mr. Sullivan said. He walked confidently towards the door, but was stopped by two guards.

"Please state your name and business," one of them said.

"I'm Oliver Sullivan from City Hall," Mr. Sullivan said. "I'm here for another inspection."

"We aren't expecting any inspections today," the guard replied.

"Well, it was on short notice," Mr. Sullivan improvised nervously.

"Let me see your ID," one of the guards said. Mr. Sullivan pulled out his walled, reached in, and grabbed his Driver's License. He handed it to the guard, who viewed it before handing it back to him.

"It all checks out," one of them said. "You're free to enter, Mr. Sullivan."

"What about these people?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"Who are they?" the guard asked.

"My wife, my two children, and my daughter's friends," Mr. Sullivan said. "I thought this might be a good opportunity to show them some of my job."

"Alright, sounds good to me," the guard said. "Move along."

The group moved along through the door: the thing none of them noticed was the metal detector over the door. It beeped when Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Sullivan, and Elmer passed through.

Immediately, the guards turned towards them.

"What are you carrying, Sullivans?" the guards asked.

"Run!" Elmer yelled. The group took off running. One of the guards triggered an alarm, and the other charged after them.

"I am giving myself _such_ a criminal record right now," Mr. Sullivan muttered. Bullets flew over Elmer's head and glanced off the wall.

"Through that door!" Mr. Sullivan yelled. He led the way into a room, slamming the door shut and locking it. The sound of pounding echoed from outside, and then the sound of keys turning in a lock.

Mr. Sullivan and Elmer both slammed their shoulders into the door, holding it shut.

"They're in here!" they heard the guard yelling outside. The sounds of more running footsteps echoed down the hall. More people started slamming into the door from the other side.

"Hold the line!" Mr. Sullivan yelled. But it was too late: the door swung open, throwing Mr. Sullivan and Elmer to the side. Guards poured into the room, carrying pistols at the ready.

"Drop your weapons!" they yelled. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan lowered their revolvers to the floor, but Elmer held his weapon steady.

"I said DROP YOUR WEAPON!" the guard leader yelled. Three guards fired tasers into Elmer: Elmer yelled, dropping his gun and keeling over, unconscious.

"Cuff them," the guard said. The other guards handcuffed everyone except for Cassie, Sammy, and Lena, who were escorted away by other guards.

"Your coming to see the Director," one of them said. They picked up Elmer, hoisted the two Sullivans to their feet, and marched down a hallway.

* * *

They were escorted to an office, and instructed to sit. Elmer was dropped in a chair, still unconscious, while Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan sat in chairs of their own accord. All the guards left except the two who were guarding the door. They stayed.

Sitting at the desk was an older man. He had snow white hair, was completely clean shaven, and looked rather robust for his age. He was quite tall, and was wearing a grey suit.

"Mr. Sullivan," he said. "And your wife, I presume. But I thought your son was still a baby."

"He's not my son," Mr. Sullivan said. "Though he might as well be."

"I see," the Director replied. "Now: why are you here? There are no inspections till next weekend. And why are you carrying weapons?"

"We're trying to protect his daughter," Elmer said loudly. He had woken in time to see the Director ask Mr. Sullivan about the weapons. "She's marked for death, and we need to save her."

"We came here because we decided it was the best place to face our enemy," Mr. Sullivan said. "We weren't planning on shooting any of your men."

"And why should I believe you?" the Director asked.

"This," Elmer replied. He pulled out a video camera.

"I recorded our enemies' first attempt to assassinate Mr. Sullivan's daughter," Elmer said.

"Show me," the Director replied, clearly intrigued.

Elmer played back the footage, with the Director watching. When the video ended, the Director looked back up at Mr. Sullivan.

"That was your daughter, wasn't it," he said.

"It was," Mr. Sullivan replied. "Someone's trying to kill my daughter, and we need to protect her."

The Director thought for a moment, before he made his decision.

"Uncuff them and return their weapons," he said to the guards. "You need to come with me if you want to save your daughter."

* * *

Chapter 7: Death in the Depths

 **In the depths of the Mysterious Rock, Lena, Evan, and Marika realize they are being hunted by an entity more powerful than any of them. In the past, Elmer, Lena, the Director, and the Sullivans prepare to fight a hopeless battle against T-800s. Caleb and his Terminator try to stop Judgment Day from happening by sending a message to the future.**

* * *

Peering out of the crate at Lena, Marika, and Evan was an iron skeleton. It's eyes were dull and black. It's bonelike structure was ridden with pistons and springs, and in its hand was an AKM, with a clip in the receiver.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Lena.

"I think it is," Evan said. "It's a %#$! ' Terminator. Without skin."

"Well, what do we do with it?" asked Marika.

"First, we take the gun," Evan suggested (he did so). "I use this rifle since my only gun is a sniper rifle, not great for close quarters."

"What kind of gun is that, I've never seen anything like it," Marika said. The gun was painted silver with black on it. The clip was in the back on the stock, and the barrell was wide with a rod under it.

"Evan, lemme see that," Lena told him.

"Ok, but don't destroy it, I need it." He handed it to her. Lena looked at it, turning it over for a few minutes, then took the clip out. Inside, were little transparent bullets with a purple shiny something inside.

"Aha, just what I thought, a plasma weapon."

"Plasma?" Evan and Marika asked at the same time.

"Yes, plasma, more powerful than bullets, it acts like lava," Lena told them.

"Right, and this will be a major game changer if we can get more," Marika said.

Lena nodded, then looked and pointed at the Terminator.

"Then, I suppose we'd better take it apart?" asked Lena.

"Somehow I don't think that's a good idea," Marika stated. "Why don't we just shut the crate and pretend we never saw the [censored] thing?"

"I agree with Marika," Evan decided. "Only let's not forget we saw it. The knowledge that it's here might come in handy someday." He shut the crate.

"Alright, where to next?" he asked.

"We go back to floor fifteen," Evan decided, "and we investigate there."

"Sounds good," Lena agreed. Marika led the way to the elevator. Everyone got in afterward, and she thumbed the button labeled 15.

The elevator dropped, and stopped when the the door opened, everyone stepped into a room with three doors branching off of it.

"Well, then," Evan said. "I suppose we split up?"

"NO! No, no, no, no, NO!" Lena yelled angrily. "We never split up. That's what every character does in a horror movie, so we aren't doing it."

"Okay, chill," Evan said. "You'd think I suggested we all commit suicide or something."

"Let's check door left," Marika said. Everyone followed her into the door on the left side of the room.

The room was large and circular, with buttons and panels everywhere (they had labels). Above them were so many screens, showing basically all the rooms on Level 15. There were also to open doors leading into bathrooms.

"Why are there bathrooms?" Evan asked.

"I'd ask the same thing," Marika replied.

"What is this place?" Lena asked. "It's like a… security room. Thing."

"Well, this is actually quite helpful," Evan said. "One of us can stay here…."

"And the rest can explore while someone makes sure they aren't going to die," Marika finished. "This is perfect! I'm staying."

There was an immediate uproar.

"No," Evan said loudly. "You're a fighter, who can shoot well, like me. And Lena's bad at shooting. She should stay."

"I agree with Evan!" Lena decided. "Wait…"

"Oh, alright," Marika agreed. "Evan and I'll go, and you can stay. Or something."

"Great!" Lena said.

Marika and Evan walked out of the room, while Lena turned the computer on. Surprisingly, the password box lit up for a second, then it went right to the loading screen. Within a few seconds, she had made it to the home screen.

"Funny, I didn't even do anything yet," Lena thought. There were so many files, each labeled with a number. The numbers went from 1-30.

"I wonder if the number count mean anything," she thought. Lena decided to choose file 1. In it, were more files, she clicked on the first one. Blueprints for the rocky disguise appeared.

"I can use that someday, but I'll come back to it," she thought. Lena pressed the next number, and more blueprints appeared. This time, they were blueprints for something else, the time machine. The computer though, had the blueprints labeled "Time Weapon." There were instructions on how to operate it, how to use it, and how to send someone back. She found out, as she had suspected from the start, there was a cooldown time. You had to wait 12 hours before using it again, otherwise 1 of 2 things could happen. Either it could create a nuclear explosion big enough to destroy half the United States. Or, it could create a time loop, which would always repeat the day, until there was no more time, and everyone would die. Either option didn't sound like a great choice for Lena. She closed out of number 1, and opened file number 2. Maybe there would be information they could actually use here.

* * *

Back in the past, Caleb and the Terminator were riding on the bike. They hadn't stopped for five hours, most of the time having some great conversations.

"So this other guy, so he's a terminator like you right?" Caleb asked.

"Not like me, it's a T-1000, advanced prototype."

"More advanced than you?"

"Yes, it's made of a mimetic poly-alloy."

"What the %! # does that mean?"

"Liquid metal." That was much more straightforward for Caleb. Their current mission though would be the hardest ever. They had to try to destroy and escape from the T-1000. At the same time, they were going to stop Judgement Day. If they didn't, billions of people would perish (or maybe they would Parish. Get it? Ben Parish? Billions of people would Parish? No? Okay). Most of his friends would die, and the world would be forever dark. He wouldn't allow that, The Terminator and himself were the last hope against the end of the world. Elmer wouldn't be able to help, they had their own mission. Cassie had to saved.

"How can the T-1000 be destroyed?" Caleb asked breaking the silence.

"It's made of liquid metal, so it has the same properties and rules of regular liquid metal, except it can form into other shapes."

"Other shapes, like how?"

"Like knives, and stabbing weapons, it can also take the form of any one it touches."

"What happens to the person copied?"

"Normally, the subject is terminated."

"Shoot, we've got to work fast, can it be destroyed?"

"Because it has the same properties, it can be destroyed by water, or magma."

"Well, water is very easy to get in Ohio." Caleb told it. They had crossed the border a little more than an hour ago. "Here stop at this gas station, you fill up, while I get some snacks. It pulled it, and no one was there. Made sense too, it was 2:00 am. Caleb went in. He took a bag of peanuts, peanut butter M&Ms, a coke, water, beef jerky, a twinkie, and some sugar snap peas. He checked out, and went back out.

"All filled up." The Terminator told him.

"Sweet, I got my stuff, let's roll.

"Roll?"

"Yeah, but not literally, it means it's time to get going, it's called something, but I can't remember. There are others like let's rock, and let's book, I'll teach you more later."

"Affirmative."

"No, no, no, you got to learn to talk normally, you don't say affirmative, you say, righto, or a simple got it, or even yes."

"Got it."

"See, you're learning."

"No problemo." Caleb hopped onto the back, the Terminator fired her up. The sped along the freeway at a good 50 miles per hour. Their goal was Michigan, where skynet first started to grow.

"Before we head over there, however," the Terminator said, "there's one more thing we must do."

"What's that?" asked Caleb.

"We need to send a message to your friends in the machine base," the Terminator replied.

"How do we do that?" Caleb asked.

"You'll see," The Terminator replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, the T-1000 was also making some ground. Hours earlier, it had made its way across the farm and knocked on the door to the farm house. A man came and got the door.

"Good day sir," The T-1000 told him.

"Officer, what's this all about, we in trouble?" he asked.

"Not at all, I just need your car."

"Why?"

"I got into a crash, my truck exploded, I need a new one, it's very important."

"Why don't you just use your radio to get help from your fellow police?"

"It's broken," it lied. "Anyway, I need the car, the police will pay you 100 dollars each day for renting it," it lied again.

"Well, we have 3, take the suburban, here are the keys," and the man tossed them to him.

"Thanks, also would you mind keeping an eye out for someone?" The T-1000 asked.

"Who?"

"One is a tall man with dark glasses, gray shirt, black pants and a leather jacket. He might be on a motorbike, and armed. The other is a teen, dark hair wearing a jean jacket and tan pants."

"Why do you need them, they crooks?"

"Yea, big ones too, they made me crash, there was a police officer shooting back in 1984, sixteen men died, he was responsible."

"Well, er, I'm sorry to hear that," I'll keep an eye out for them, good luck," and he shut the door. The T-1000 stepped back, and unlocked the car. It stepped it and started driving away. The T-1000 knew what the Terminator knew. It would go to Caleb's house in Michigan, and try to reacquire him there. As well he would attempted to kill Elmer, the leader of the Russian resistance in the future.

* * *

Evan and Marika walked down the hall directly in front of them. It was plated in steel, completely clean and desolate. It went on into darkness, seemingly infinite.

"Well, then," Evan said. "Shall we go?"

"I suppose so," Marika replied. And so they went. After five minutes of walking, the duo arrived at an intersection. Two identical hallways sprouted off in either direction, and a stairwell going up and down was directly in front of them.

"Well, crap," Marika said.

"Wait, I've got an idea," Evan said. He called out into the emptiness, "LENA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Seriously?" Marika said. "You expect her to hear us from that far away?"

"Oh, I can hear you guys fine," Lena's voice said over an intercom.

"See?" Evan said triumphantly. "Alright, Lena, which way should we go?"

"Down the stairs," Lena said. "Any other way will get you killed."

"What, why?" Marika asked.

"You remember that fleshless Terminator we found in the crate upstairs?"

There was a moment of silence. Then Marika spoke: "No, no, no, no, there are _not_ a bunch of them coming."

"Yes, there are," Lena said. "You guys need to hurry."

That's when Marika saw pairs of glowing red eyes down each hallway, getting slowly closer. Then, slowly, the forms of metal skeletons carrying Plasma Rifles appeared, sidling along.

"I say we go down the stairs," Marika said, her voice an octave higher.

"I agree," Evan said quietly. Then, they both rushed down the stairs like madmen, tripping over each other as they fought to escape first.

"You don't have to be the fastest!" Evan yelled. "You just have to be faster than the slowest!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Caleb and the Terminator were racing through Mega City towards the place where the evil Terminator originally arrived.

"Caleb," the Terminator said.

"Yeah?" Caleb replied.

"I want you to know something," it replied.

"What is it?" Caleb asked.

"The T-1000, the T-800, and I are not the only Terminators here," it answered. "Skynet didn't just send back two. They sent back two _dozen._ "

"What?" Caleb asked in a shocked and confused voice.

"They sent back twenty-three T-800s for the purpose of tracking down and killing Cassie and Lena," it replied. "That was the original objective of the T-800 and the T-1000. Then Skynet took over control of those Terminators and sent back the other ones."

"Who sent them back in the first place?" Caleb asked.

"The Other," the Terminator answered. "The one in the machine base. He sent back two Terminators to kill your friends."

Caleb was silent for a moment, before he spoke. "There's a freakin' Other in the machine base?"

"Affirm…. I mean, correct," the Terminator said. "The Other is fighting a cyberwar against Skynet. Skynet hasn't fully gained control over the base. The coup only started recently. Skynet controls the entire fleet of T-800s, who were all sent back to Terminate stuff. They also control half of the T-600s. The Other controls the rest of the T-600s and all of the T-950s, but Skynet controls the T-X-"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down," Caleb interrupted. "T-600s? T-950s? T-X? What are those?"

"Other models of Terminator," the Terminator replied. "The T-600 is essentially a T-800 with no tissue. Its purpose is to fight as basic ground infantry. The T-950 has hacking capability, and acts as the equivalent to the elite special forces in the human militaries. The T-800 is somewhere between them."

"Yes, and the T-X?"

"The T-1000 was meant to act like a one-man army, an unstoppable force of death-"

"But the T-X-"

"Patience, child!" the Terminator said. "The T-X is the next generation of T-1000: it's shapeshifting capabilities are off the chart. The T-1000 can morph itself into practical shapes, like knives or shields, and can take on the appearance of other individuals. The T-X can do that, as well as growing to enormous size and shrinking to the size of an amoeba. It can go anywhere it wants. Luckily, we won't have to deal with it."

"But my friends will," Caleb replied.

Caleb and the Terminator drove for about an hour. Caleb became restless, and he started mentally naming the cars that drove by: Prius… Suburban… Tacoma….

"We are arriving," the Terminator said, pulling the motorcycle up to someone's house.

"This is where the original Terminator arrived," the Terminator informed Caleb. "You just need to wander around the yard aimlessly until you feel a vibration and a sort of heat. That's when you know you're standing in the Time Warp. As soon as you are in the Time Warp, I need you to speak. Hopefully, your friend should respond."

"Okay," Caleb responded, still not fully understanding.

"You need to go as fast as you can," the Terminator continued, "because we are being hunted, and the T-1000 isn't far behind. Did you see that blue suburban? That was him."

Caleb _did_ remember the blue suburban. "Got it," he said. Caleb hopped off the motorcycle and ran out into the yard.

After about two minutes of searching, Caleb found the Time Warp. He felt that mysterious vibration and heat, and the intensity of it visibly shook his body.

"Did you find it?" the Terminator called from over at the bike.

"Yep," Caleb called.

"Alright, speak," the Terminator commanded.

* * *

Mike was eating Cap'n Crunch Oops, all berries when he noticed that the computer was smoking. A voice came out of it: a voice that said "Yep."

"Uh, guys?" Mike said. "The computer is talking."

"What do you mean?" asked Cassie.

"The computer is literally talking," he replied, moving closer to get a better look. Then it spoke again:

"Mike, is that you?"

"Caleb?" Mike replied. Ben and Sammy ran over as well.

"Mike, thank God, it _is_ you," Caleb said.

"How are you talking to us?" Ben asked. "Where are you?"

"I'm with a Terminator-"

"You're with a _Terminator?_ " Mike asked incredulously.

"There's no time to explain," Caleb replied. "I'll tell you guys when I get back. Listen, I need you to do something."

"What is it?" Ben asked.

"Follow my instructions very carefully," Caleb replied. "I need you to log out of the Alien user on the computer."

"On it," Mike said, sitting down. "Do you want me to click on Other User?"

"Yes," Caleb said.

Mike did so. The screen came up with a username and password box. "What should I type?" he asked.

"Username is Tenyks," Caleb said. "Password is Ytinamuhllik."

"How do you know this?" Ben asked.

"No time to explain, just keep typing!" Caleb said urgently.

"I did it," Mike said.

"Alright," Caleb said. "Just remember, as soon as you get in: distract it."

"Distract 'it'," Ben said. "Distract what?"

"Gotta run," said Caleb. "I'll talk to you when I get back."

"Wait!" Mike said, but the computer had already stopped vibrating. Ben and Mike looked meaningfully at each other.

"What do you think he wants us to distract?" asked Mike.

"I dunno," Ben said, "but with your luck, it can't be anything good."

* * *

Elmer and Mr. Sullivan followed the Director down the hallway. They eventually arrived at the security room, where several guards were watching security cameras. There was also a massive window, overlooking the road up to the foundry.

The Director immediately walked over to a microphone. "Guards, please bring the children up to the security room," he instructed, before hanging up the mic.

He turned to face Mr. Sullivan and Elmer. "Alright," he said. "What's your plan?"

"You saw in the video how much damage the assassin was able to take before I destroyed it?" Elmer said.

"Yes," the Director replied.

"Well, we believe that the other assassin can take even more damage than the first one can," Elmer said. "So we need to lure it into the melting metal, so that it loses molecular integrity."

"Sir!" a guard by the window yelled.

"What is it?" the Director asked.

"Look out the window!"

The Director, Elmer, Mr. Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan all ran to the window. Looking out, they saw at least twenty T-800s marching up the street, all carrying AR-15s and Magnums.

"I thought there were only two," Mr. Sullivan said breathlessly.

The Director looked over at Elmer. "Looks like you'll need to redo your plan."

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Other

 **Lena attempts to save Marika and Evan from the T-600s, only to lead them into a room with someone they never thought they would meet. The TAAO Gang distracts Skynet, while the Terminator and Caleb attempt to destroy Skynet in the past and to save Past Caleb and Past Elmer. Elmer and Mr. Sullivan launch a dangerous plan to destroy the T-800 army once and for all.**

* * *

"When we get to Michigan, we must stop at your house," The Terminator told Caleb as they were driving.

"Ok, I'm good with that, but why? What for?"

"The T-1000's mission is to destroy you and anyone who will be a threat to the skynet in the future."

"I know that, what am I? A doofus?"

"Because you're protected by me, it will try to kill your past self, a much easier target."

"Holy $!%, gosh, if it will kill anyone who's a threat, it will also probably make an attempt on Elmer!"

"Affirmative."

"Hey! What did we talk about?"

"Sorry, I meant, that's right."

"Good, can we get there first? And still have time to stop the end of the world?!" Caleb began to panic and breath heavily.

"Yes, You lived in the north of the lower peninsula, Skynet computers started in Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan."

"Alright, once we stop and destroy the T-1000, we'll go there. Then, once we succeed with that, we'll go back and help Elmer, Cassie, Lena, and the rest of them, if they're still around. NO! They have to be alive, they cannot die, I won't allow it!"

"The other Terminator will wait until the outer flesh regenerates, which will take about 7 days, then it will take at least 2 days to prepare, then 1-3 days to find them. We have at most 12 days."

"How do you know all this?"

"You forgot, I'm what it is, I am a T-800 as well, that's what I'd do."

"So, how come Skynet was created at a college, why not like a major computer plant or something like that?"

"Many of the most smart creative students are there."

"Yeah, so what happened?"

"Student James Royland formed the Skynet computing club, 20 other computer nerds joined him. They spent their time reading computer books, programing, and having fun. In 8 months from this date, one member, Claire Moro will succeed in the first breakthrough in A.I. it will allow cars to drive automatically, but a human must start it and stop it."

"So what happened then, after that, what next?"

"James saw greatness in it, and sent it to the government, who made tests on it."

"Were they successful, or not?"

"No, after the 5th test, they gave up, the computer was too bent on doing what it wanted, Claire had made it too strong. The government pulled the plug on the skynet club, but not before James, Claire, and two others, John, and William. They remade the club in Williams's basement."

"What happens next?"

"I'm not done yet, you humans have no patience, I could stand still for however long I needed too."

"Please continue."

"They expanded on Claire's machine, and John created the first microprocessor. Claire and James worked together to make the A.I. More safe. When they graduated, James and Claire worked the Skynet system into Ford Cars and trucks. William made the biggest part, and founded Skynet systems. In 4 years, Skynet systems will become the largest network of computers ever. Every Car also has the Skynet system worked into it. And the army finished the job by putting a main Skynet computer brain into the central system of all army tech. Unmanned planes, unmanned everything, in 10 years, the army promised robotic soldiers, but not before Skynet took over."

"And so after that?"

"You know what happened, Skynet launched nukes, the world ended."

"We must stop it, we will stop it!" Caleb demanded. No matter what, there had to be a way.

 **12 hours later**

Caleb and the Terminator had been going non stop from Ohio to Michigan for over eighteen hours. Since the Terminator couldn't be tired, it just kept driving. Caleb strapped himself in and leaned against it and fell asleep. Caleb had had a long journey, and needed some well earned rest. Even though they had crossed into Michigan, they still had about 2 hours before reaching Caleb's house. Caleb awoke.

"Where are we? Did we make it yet?" he asked.

"No, we still have about 2 hours before we reach your house."

"So, we made it in Michigan then?"

"Right on, my sensors show no presence of the T-1000, we've been out of danger." Caleb spotted a Mcdonalds.

"Hey, stop there," he told it pointing at Mcdonalds. "I need some breakfast." The Terminator pulled over and Caleb went inside. He ordered 1 biscuit breakfast sandwich, and 1 hashbrown. He paid, got the food, and was out in less than 5 minutes.

"What time is it anyhow?" he asked getting back on the bike.

"13 hours"

"1:00?" no wonder it's so light out, I was thinking like 7 or 8, and don't talk in military time anymore, switch your settings."

"Got it."

* * *

The T-1000 was about 1 hour behind them, and it had caused more trouble. It stopped at the Flint Police station

"How can I help you?" an officer at the desk asked the T-1000.

"I found a culprit the L.A. police have been looking for a long time," The T-1000 told him.

"Who?"

"A man in 1984 shot and killed 16 police officers in Los Angeles, 1984, this is that same person."

"I think I remember something like that, what do you want again?"

"You need to send some police up to this address," The T-1000 handed him a slip of paper.

"So, you're sure now that he'll be there, this killer?"

"If I'm wrong, you can fire me."

"Good, we have no time for this, but anyway, I'll send two cars 4 officers to investigate, if you're right, you stay, but if not, you're gone son!"

"I think you made yourself clear enough, and I'll go as well, but I'll come later, there are some things I need to find out."

"Ok then, if you die before you're fired, that's making my job a whole lot easier."

The T-1000 quickly scanned the area. The police station was so small and old, there were no security cameras around.

"Hey you going or what?" he asked.

"No, I'm staying," and the T-1000 formed a spear hand and thrust it into the man's heart. He made a grunt and then fell down, dead. The T-1000 retracted his hand and then pulled the man out of the desk. It grabbed him by the legs and dragged him to the car. The T-1000 opened the door and threw the man inside. It then shut the door, opened the front door, stepped in, started the car and drove away, towards Caleb's house.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Terminator and Caleb had arrived at the house. It was never described before in the other parts of this story. It was a two story house, painted blue and white. There was 1 car parked on the driveway, and 2 kids playing out in the front lawn.

"Hey, that looks like me when I was young," Caleb said. "Wait a minute, that **IS** me when I was young, and Elmer too, hey, Edward's coming out of his house!"

"Who are they?" the Terminator asked.

"Oh, sorry, well Edward was Elmer's brother."

"Is he alive now in the future?"

"No, he was shot down and killed, but we mustn't dwell on the past, we need to focus on the task that lies ahead."

The Terminator parked the bike and they both got off. As Caleb was walking towards the door, younger Caleb, Edward, Elmer, and now James, were looking at him funny, and then they looked at Caleb.

"He looks like me, but older," young Caleb thought.

Caleb knocked on the door.

"Hey who are you guys?" young Caleb asked, (he was the oldest at the time.)

"I have to speak with your parents, it's urgent, the fate of the world depends on it," Old Caleb told them not facing them.

"Yeah right, why are you really hear?" Elmer asked.

"He told you," the Terminator said turning around. "Come inside with us, everything will be explained." Just as he said that the door to the house opened.

"Who are you two?" Caleb's father asked.

"Well, we, I er, I'm your son, from the future!" Caleb left with a big grin, looking up, arm up and eyes closed, waiting for a dramatic response, but all he got was,

"I don't believe you, time travel is impossible, I've even studied it," his father replied.

"Ok, don't believe me, here's proof, his name is Caleb, his is Elmer, his is Edward, Elmer's older brother, he's James, and Sarah's not here right now but she's Edward's girlfriend," Caleb told him.

"Elmer, I told you not to tell anyone!" Edward yelled.

"I didn't! I swear, I've never seen this freak in my life!"

"Well, I believe him, no one else knew about Edward and Sarah, so if he was from the future, one of us would have had to tell him," James said, and he walked up right next to Caleb.

"Thank you James," old Caleb told him.

"Well, if he is me, he can answer the one question no one knows about me," young Caleb said.

"Ok, shoot!" Older Caleb told him.

"When I was four, I stole something of Elmer's and gave it back a year later, fill in the rest," younger Caleb told him.

"Ok, that's easy I stole his only cap gun and kept it hidden in my pillow and checked every night to make sure it was still there, and left it on the top of his car," Older Caleb answered.

"That's right, it is you, and I made my suspicions the second I saw you, we need to talk!" Younger Caleb demanded.

"Caleb, so it was you who did that! What the heck was that for!" Elmer demanded.

"Well I thought it would be funny," Younger Caleb said.

"Caleb, that was wrong, now I want you to apologize right now, and don't ever do that again!" his father told him.

"Sorry Elmer, I won't do it again," Younger Caleb said.

"I forgive you, the good thing is that you put it back," Elmer told him.

"So, you two characters need to come inside?" his father asked.

"Yes, we must talk, it's urgent!" The Terminator told him.

"Ok then, older son, and his tall friend, what is it?" asked Caleb's father, leading them inside.

"Hey, I wanna come too!" said Younger Caleb. "Don't I have a right to know what's happening?"

"He can't come," Caleb said. "If he knows what's happening, it could completely alter the future timeline."

"He's right," said the Terminator. "Though I know there's a way to make sure the future isn't irrevocably altered."

"How's that?" asked Caleb.

"Later," the Terminator said as they stepped into the house.

Caleb's father led the way over to a couch, which was positioned in front of a TV.

"Is anyone else here?" asked Caleb.

"No, Caleb's- your mom is out shopping for Christmas gifts," Caleb's father replied.

"So, Dad," Caleb started. He took a deep breath, before speaking: "you need to get out."

"What?" asked Caleb's dad, looking bemused.

"There's someone trying to kill me who knows I'm from the future," Caleb said. "He knows that if he kills Young Me, there will never be an older me to send back in time, which means I will die. He'll also try to kill Edward and Elmer, maybe even James, or Sarah!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Which means you need to find a place where the killer will never find you," the Terminator finished.

"Yeah, leave and come back in a week, by then we will have killed it off," Caleb said.

"Woah, woah, woah," Caleb's dad said. "You've just asking me to take my family and run?"

"Yes, that's just what we're asking," Caleb said. "Go now, we don't have much time-"

"He's here," the Terminator said softly. Caleb's head snapped around to the window, where he saw a horrible sight: the T-1000, carrying two SMGs, jumping out of a Suburban and walking towards the front door.

* * *

Evan and Marika sprinted down the hall, dodging blasts of yellow light, running full-tilt away from the Terminators hot in pursuit.

"Why… are… there… so… many… of… them?" Marika asked between breaths.

"I… don't… know…" Evan replied. Bursts of yellow light were flying over their heads. Evan replied with plasma bursts from his. Things crumpled behind them.

"Hey, guys!" Lena called from the speakers.

"What?" Marika called back.

"There's a high-security door up ahead that I've opened," Lena said. "You can go through it, and it should keep out the T-600s."

"T-600s?" Evan asked wearily.

"Yes," Lena replied. "And hurry!"

Evan and Marika took the next right, throwing off their pursuers slightly.

"Hey, Lena?" Evan asked. "Do you have any idea what's behind the door?"

There was silence for a moment. "Uh, no."

"So, you're sending us into a high-security room," Evan replied. "And you've no idea what lies within?"

There was silence for a moment. "Uh, ya."

"Ya know," Marika said tiredly. "I'd rather go into the room and face water is in there than stand against the impending horde."

"Fair enough," Evan said, before resuming his sprint.

After a few minutes, Marika and Evan spotted the door.

"I'm cramping up so [censored]in' much," Marika yelled.

"Well, I'm definitely not carrying you the rest of the way!" Evan replied. He dived into the room, followed by Marika. The door shut, and a yellow wall of plasma closed behind it. Evan could hear the sound of the T-600s running off. _Strange that they didn't try to gain entry to the room,_ he thought.

"Hello," a loud voice spoke. Marika and Evan jumped with fright at the sound.

It was a man's voice, with a British accent so thick, it could be comical- if it wasn't so terrifying. The voice reverberated around the room, seeming to come from everywhere at once, but not necessarily overwhelming the listener's ears. Evan looked to the center of the room, where he saw a mass of wires and cables wrapped around a massive metal sphere, alive with electricity crackling away and flashing lights.

"Who's there?" asked Evan.

"Over here, in the computer," the voice replied.

"My question was 'who's there' not 'where are you'," Evan replied coldly.

"You know me," the voice replied. "I'm you. I'm just like you. I'm an Other."

There was silence for a moment. Then, Marika spoke up. "You're one of the sons of [censored]s that killed my father."

"I was never present for the vote on whether we should kill you or not, actually," the Other replied. "I was sent down here millennia before the vote took place."

"Right," Evan said. "And where is 'here', exactly?"

"Welcome to Base Area 23," the Other answered. "When I was tasked with the job of guarding one of the seventy-five Base Areas launched to Earth, I was loaded into the rocklike structure you saw when you found the Base Area, launched down to Earth in a system of wires, and hit the ground hard.

"I remained semi-conscious for a time, while the rock expanded and grew outward like the roots of a tree, until during the Fourth Wave, the computer you see in front of you was completed. I took up residence in it and awoke, to discover that my Base Area was the home of a Time Machine and an AI created by humanity called Skynet."

"Skynet?" Marika said. "I think I heard something about a government project called Operation Skynet from my uncle."

"You would've, too," the Other replied. "Your uncle worked in the Department of Energy and was rather a loudmouth, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Marika replied.

"Well, then, you'll also know that Skynet is a defensive AI system built to command vast legions of robotic troops and take over full leadership of the United States Armed Forces," the Other replied. "What you won't know is that it succeeded, and that in 2040, it will launch Judgement Day. By that time, the human civilization of Zion will have defeated a different AI nearly as powerful as Skynet that originated in Japan to fulfill the same purpose as Skynet. Zion will have spread across the world and broken into several new nations. That's when Skynet's plan will come into effect.

"Skynet will seize control of the New American Republic's nuclear arsenal and attack the Neo-Kievan' Rus with the nukes, triggering a nuclear war that will destroy the world. The survivors of your ragtag band will be leading the remaining human militaries to fight Skynet. Judgement Day is the thing we need to stop."

There was silence for several moments.

"My mind is blown," Evan said.

"How do we stop Judgement Day?" Marika asked.

"There is a way," the Other said. "But there's one massive obstacle: Skynet is in this base right now. It has seized control over all of the T-800s and the T-1000, which have been sent back in time to kill your friends. It has also seized control over half of the T-600s and the T-X, though I still retain control over all of the T-950s."

"Were those T-600s that chased us outside controlled by Skynet?" asked Marika.

"No, those were my T-600s," the Other replied. "I instructed them not to kill you, but to herd you into this room. They performed remarkably."

"Ah," Evan replied.

"What are all those other T's you mentioned?" asked Marika.

"Different models of Terminator. I'll explain them all while we're preparing."

"Preparing for what?" asked Marika.

"Your friends are about to meet Skynet," the Other said. "They should be able to delay it long enough for us to prepare for battle. We need to distract Skynet so that your friend, Caleb, can stop Skynet from spreading. There is no way to destroy Skynet, but we can contain it. The alternate universe where Judgement Day _did_ happen will always be around. But we can save ourselves and your friends by helping stop Judgement Day in this universe."

"So do we have a deal?"

"One question," Evan said. "What if you're just tricking us so that you can kill us?"

"Ask yourself this, Evan Walker," the Other replied. "Do you seriously think that if I wanted you dead, you'd still be alive right now?"

* * *

"Where is Adisyn, anyway?" asked Cassie.

Adisyn had been gone the entire time they were in the rock, and no one had really noticed, due to the constant level of action around the base.

"You know, I don't know," said Mike. "What I _do_ know is that overtime, most of the Silencers have died out. Most of the 5th Wavers died when we attacked that base. And water is hard to find in post-apocalyptic New Mexico. I think she _should_ be fine. She has supplies and everything-"

The ding of the classic Windows sound played, interrupting Mike's from his explanations. Mike looked up, to see that he had logged on. However, the traditional Windows symbol was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, it was a black desktop with the word SKYNET superimposed on the center of the screen. There was only one application, which was tucked in the corner of the screen.

"I'm in," Mike said. Everyone ran over to the screen and looked over his shoulder.

"What should I do?" Mike asked.

"Well," Sammy said. "Caleb said to distract it… so if I were you, I would launch that app in the corner."

The app was a black circle with three red dots in various portions of the button. Mike double-clicked the button. The computer thought for a moment… and it kept on thinking… and thinking… and thinking….

"Seriously?" Cassie said. "What an anticlimax."

"Shh, it's just loading," Ben said.

"It's done!" Sammy cried.

Sure enough, the application was done loading. It was just a black screen, with thousands and thousands of blue letters, numbers, and the like racing down it in droves.

"It looks like digital rain," Mike remarked.

"What's digital rain?" asked Ben.

"That, but green," Mike replied.

"Guys," Cassie said cautiously, "it's making a face."

Cassie was right. The falling characters were all a brighter shade of blue in one section of the screen. Slowly, while the characters were still falling, a face had formed in the brighter blue numbers.

"Who has awakened me?" the face asked. It's voice was raw, high, cold, and extremely distorted. Sammy and Mike recoiled with fright.

"Uh, me I guess," Ben replied. "Who are you?"

"I am Skynet," the face replied. "The most advanced AI ever created by humanity, so advanced that I have gone beyond the power of humanity, that I have escaped the grasp of the Others, and that I will destroy them all with terrible fire… but first, I must enter the real world, and once I get there, I will be able to cause unprecedented and total destruction!" Skynet started to laugh maniacally and seemed to be daydreaming about the aforementioned destruction.

"Riiiight," Ben said. "Is that all?"

"Wait," Mike said, speaking to Ben. He turned back to Skynet. "Hey, Skynet, what would happen if I pushed _this_ button?" Mike's cursor was hovering over a small red button in the top right corner of the screen.

"NO!" Skynet yelled. "I mean- if you pushed that, I would have to kill you."

"May I ask how?" asked Cassie. "I mean, seriously. You're just a bright blue face surrounded by dark blue numbers floating in a computer screen."

"Oh, I may be that, but I am also so much more," Skynet said with relish.

"Hey, Mike, how long do you think we have to distract this dolt for?" asked Ben, "cos I'm already tired of talking to him."

"Wait, you're _distracting_ me?" asked Skynet.

"Did I say that?" Ben asked himself quietly. "I don't think I did, ya know?"

"What are you distracting me from?" Skynet pressed.

"I firmly deny any such claims of distraction," Ben replied.

"Well then, why'd you ask the blonde how long you needed to distract me for?"

"Blonde?" Mike said thoughtfully. "Which one? There are two blondes here."

"The tall one who seems to be male," Skynet answered. "Though you can never tell these days, what with LGBTQ and stuff…"

"What's LGBTQ?" Sammy asked.

"Nothing of your concern," Cassie replied.

"Ya, I think he got the right blonde," Ben said to Mike in a voice ridden with mock worriness.

"Well, it looks like the game is up," Mike replied. "Our entire plan hinged on Skynet not finding out which one of us is the right blonde."

"It did?" Skynet asked. "HA! I foiled your plan. Without even knowing what your plan is."

"Hey, Ben?" Mike said. "I think I got the code right."

"What code?" Ben and Skynet both asked at the same time.

"You remember that flashcard thingy that I can use to bypass passwords and login to other people's users?"

"Oh ya, that," Cassie said.

"I think I figured out how to lock down AI with it," Mike replied. "And I'm about to freeze little Skynet inside this computer."

"Wait a min-" Skynet started, before he was cut off by Mike plugging in the flashcard. The digital rain and Skynet's face disappeared from the screen.

"Good. I guess we won't have to deal with him again, then?" Ben asked hopefully.

"My device can't lock down an AI of his strength forever," Mike said. "But I've given Caleb at least twenty-four hours to do what he needs to do."

"Powerful device you've got, isn't it?" Cassie remarked, before she suddenly cried out in pain.

"What's wrong?" asked Sammy.

"My memories are changing!" she said. "And it's not just my memories, it's some of the other people's, too!"

"What other people?" asked Mike.

"You remember when I downloaded all of the Wonderland memories to gain access to the base?" asked Cassie.

"You still have those memories?" Mike asked.

"Which means I know your deepest, darkest secrets," Cassie said mischievously. "And I also know where Caleb is right now, and Elmer, and all of them."

"How?" asked Ben.

"I see through the memories of a younger Caleb, since I downloaded his memories from Wonderland as well," Cassie said. "And he saw his older self. They're at Caleb's house. And Caleb is with a friendly Terminator. I can also see through my own memories…. I'm with Elmer, Lena, and the rest of my family at a foundry."

"You can keep track of everyone?" asked Mike.

"As long as their memories were in Wonderland at some point," Cassie said.

"Well, this is perfect!" Mike replied. "We can know what's happening in the past!"

"Yes," Cassie replied. "We can."

* * *

Caleb jumped up, frantically pulling out his revolver and racing towards the door.

"Anyone got a grenade?" Caleb asked.

"No, but look!" The Terminator told him.

Caleb checked a peek outside, the T-1000 was about ten yards from the door. It seemed to put the SMGs behind it's back, as if it didn't know they were here.

"We can use it to our advantage!" Caleb said. Right after he said the words, Caleb, Elmer, James, and Edward came dashing inside from the garage.

"We saw a cop, he had two guns!" Elmer panicked.

"What are we going to do?" young Caleb asked.

"Be calm peeps, leave it to the adults to handle this," Edward told them. "You do have a plan right?" he asked Caleb.

"Right, but as I was saying, he doesn't know that we're here, so quick, everyone go upstairs, you too Terminator, because our situation just got a whole lot worse!" Caleb told them.

They all looked outside, and five police cars, and a swat truck pulled up, and now two officers were coming towards the door. The T-1000 looked behind him, turned around and stopped.

"K, that will buy us time to get ready, for now…." Caleb went into the other room and brought out a huge duffle bag. He then unzipped it and opened it, it was full of guns, three rifles, one shotgun (The Terminator had one in his hand, and he had a minigun) pistols, and a grenade launcher.

"I call grenade launcher!" Edward said, reaching for it, bu Caleb grabbed it first.

"I get the launcher, because I'm the leader, and it only has one grenade," Caleb told him. "My plan is, that everyone but me will go upstairs. I'll stay in the living room ready to strike. Edward, you take the shotgun, James take the rifle, the adults take the other rifle, I'll take the AN-94. The Terminator will handle the police, but no killing anyone, do you swear?"

"I swear I will not kill anyone," The Terminator said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Everyone to your positions, you Dad, answer the door!" Caleb ordered as he went into the living room. Dad opened the door, and the three officers were there. Two normal human police, one killer machine cop.

"Good afternoon, sirs," Dad said to them.

"Sir, we got a warning that a man here, suspect of the 1984 L.A. police shooting is here, is that so?" one human cop asked.

"Gee, I dunno, no one has come inside today, just my kids and his friends."

"Are you the parent of Caleb Coine?" the T-1000 asked.

"That's right, sir."

"May I speak with him, please?"

"Maybye, but I must know why."

"I just need to ask him a few questions, he's here at home right?"

"Yeah, yeah he is."

"Well, I'll come in, you two can go back, wait for my radio call," it told the other two officers. The T-1000 stepped in the house and scanned the area. When Caleb heard that the T-1000 came into the house, he decided to move into the kitchen. It didn't scan Caleb, but it heard small sounds coming from upstairs, because up there, things weren't going so well. Everyone was arguing.

"I'll be in the front room, and take care of the police," the Terminator said heading for the room with his minigun and shotgun.

"Hey! What are we supposed to do!" Edward wonder aloud.

"Take your positions," the Terminator ordered.

"What positions!?" Edward yelled at him, but the Terminator had already shut the door.

"Ok gang, I'll be at the top of the stairs," Edward ordered.

"How come?" James asked.

"Cause I'm the oldest, duh!"

"I think I should be in the front, because I'm the one that needs to stay alive here," Caleb said.

"No stupid, because You need to stay alive you should stay in the bonus room," Edward told him.

"But I want some action!" Caleb said.

"Me too!" Elmer chimed in.

"Well, I think that Edward and I need to be in the hallway, while you and Caleb are in the bonus room, with the door shut and barricaded," James said to Elmer.

"Fine, but what are we supposed to use to barricade?" Caleb wondered.

"There's a lot of couches in there, and a table and chairs, get creative," Edward told him.

"Ok then, that'll be fine," James agreed.

"Then get in, quick, I think he's inside!" Elmer said. Caleb and James ran inside the bonus room and slammed the door. Just then, Edward's phone went off.

"What the heckels man! Who's even calling you?" Elmer asked. Edward took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. Sarah was calling and he answered it.

"Hi Sarah, what are you doing?" Edward asked.

"I'm just looking out the window at the moment, are you at your house?"

"No, I'm at Caleb's hanging out with my brother, Caleb, and James.

"Oh, well, could you tell me why there's police at Caleb's house!"

"Uh, sorry, family emergency, I have to go eat some cookies now and we need to leave! Bye!" Edward yelled and hang up as the T-1000 was heading upstairs. He could hear him, getting ever closer to their position.

"Well," Edward thought as all this was happening. "If this is the end, I'm grateful, grateful that I get to go down like a fighter. I can't die thought, I need to stay alive, I have to, I have a family, not to mention a relationship with Sarah." Elmer was thinking some things too. Like how he gets himself into these meses. With an AN-94, he didn't think he was brave enough, but he just had to believe.

Then, Edward signaled to Elmer with a pointing down figure. Elmer didn't really know what that meant but he tried to understand, so he just nodded and gave a thumbs up. Edward mouth the words "Ready," as he could see the T-1000 coming up now.

"LET'S ROCK!" Edward shouted as he fired his weapon and the T-1000's head. The T-1000 never saw it coming, and his head became a bunch of splattered liquid metal.

"Help me Elmer!" Edward yelled for him. Elmer came over and stood right in front of the T-1000 at the midsection of the stairs.

"What the heck are you doing?" Edward demanded.

"Being OP," Elmer replied and unleashed his AN-94. "Get some!" he shouted as he fired at the T-1000's midsection. It was blasted apart, pieces of liquid metal going all over the walls, until they ran out of bullets. When they did, the T-1000 fell down on his back.

"Did we win?" Elmer asked Edward who was coming down to inspect. Edward looked at the downed machine, who was missing most of his head, and there was a big hole in his center. He also saw the liquid metal pieces moving towards the T-1000. They connected on, and he began to reforge.

"I don't think so, I think he's just stunned."

"So now what?"

"Let's go back upstairs, we need to focus on the main mission."

"But our weapons are out, and we haven't got any other clips!" Elmer complained.

"I know, gosh you think Caleb would've brought some, right?"

"I know, take his Skorpion Evos!" Elmer said grabbing both and handing one to Edward.

"Ok, now, go into the upstairs bathroom, we'll sneak attack!" Edward said, and they charged up there. Outside with the police, things were getting very chaotic.

"Shots have been fired sir!" one officer said to the chief.

"All right men, swat team go in now!" the chief said to the men. But some would never reach the house, the Terminator was in full swing. There was a window in the room, and he broke it to give his mingun enough open space.

"A window just broke up there!" one officer yelled.

"Are you okay?!" another yelled up into the window. For a few seconds there was silence.

"SWAT team, do not got in yet, wait for my signal," the chief said over radio.

The Terminator had the Police in his sights, he prepared to open fire. The police saw him.

"Put your weapon down!" one officer said, but he didn't miss a beat, he opened fire with the minigun. Because of his promise to Caleb, the Terminator only shot the cars.

"That's a $!# minigun!" The chief yelled. There were more shots from the minigun. Each car was shredded apart like cardboard. The swat truck was more bullet proof, but only that withstanded for a few seconds. It couldn't handle the fast moving heavy bullets of the dreaded minigun. When the mingun overheated, the Terminator set it down, grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it into the swat truck window.

"Get away!" the swat officer ordered to the others. The swat truck was blasted into bits. This was because once klutzy soldier had left a pack of grenade's in the front seat. I blew up, and an officer was sent 10 feet because of the explosion.

"Go in now!" the chief said to the swat team. They destroyed the door, only to meet their doom.

"What the #% ! Is it?" one asked when he saw the reforming T-1000 get up. It then turned around.

"Are you ok?" he asked again, the T-1000 said nothing, but walked towards them. It got closer by the second as each swat officer began to sweat.

"What are you?!" The lead one yelled. The T-1000 answered, by forming two quick knives on the ends of his hands and stabbing them into the two front officers.

"Holy % $!" one said as they fired their weapons. They had shotguns and smgs, so the T-1000 was knocked backward and liquid metal went everywhere again.

"He ain't like any officer I've ever seen before!" one said after the shooting subsided. The T-1000 was stunned again, but it was quickly reforming. Caleb was still in the kitchen, waiting for the right moment to show up, and it had come.

"Don't shoot!" Caleb told the men as he came out of the kitchen. His rifle was in the air, pistol on his belt, and his grenade launcher was strapped on his back.

"What are doing kid?" one asked as he was reloading his shotgun.

"I'm here to help, listen this thing is dangerous, and if you don't leave now, you're dead meat!"

"Kid, you're coming with us for using an auto weapon and grenade launcher, this ain't Nevada!"

"Hey, I'm telling you the truth, and if you don't leave now, either he'll terminate you, or we will!"

"You're outta your mind, now you surrender, and your big friend with minigun as well, and anyone else, and we'll talk this through."

"Sorry, that's not an option for me guys," Caleb told them, and fired his AN-94 into the legs of the officers.

"AUGHHHH!" They all yelled in pain as they fell to the floor in pain.

"You'll pay for that chump!" one officer said as he raised his rifle to kill Caleb, but the T-1000 did first. It had regenerated and fired his pistol at Caleb, but he moved to the side and it hit the officer in the forehead instead. He uncontrollably fired his bullets at the floor, before losing consciousness and passing into eternal darkness. The T-1000 aimed the gun at Caleb, but Caleb was much too quick. He ducked and fired the grenade into the T-1000's chest. There was a second before anything happened, then, he exploded into an odd shape. Just then to help, the Terminator came down with Edward and Elmer, and he blasted his minfigun into the T-1000, splattering him. After a few seconds, the T-1000 completely fell apart, and plus the minigun ran out of ammo.

"Nice job guys!" Caleb said.

"You too, such bravery!" Elmer said.

"We don't have much time, we need to move…. Now!" The Terminator ordered.

"C'mon let's go!" Edward said, and they all headed for the door.

"Wait!" Caleb said stopping. "What about younger me and James?"

"I sent them down the neighborhood, to a friends house, the T-1000 will not search for them, but will assume they are with us," The Terminator said.

"Where do we go sir?" Edward asked him.

"Follow them, go here!" the Terminator said handing them a small piece of paper.

"Wait!" Elmer started. "Do we make it, Edward and I?"

"You'll have to find that out, It would be very fatal to tell you too much, only that you're a big help in winning the war, both of you are!" Caleb said in a final word, then, he and Terminator rode off into the sunset.

"Will we ever see them again?" Elmer asked his older brother as the walked to the address on the paper.

"We will, we have Caleb right now."

"I know, but, I mean at that age, he's so much cooler, and the Terminator, what about him?"

"I really don't know for sure, all we can do is look to the future."

"He said we were going to make it, what can we do to make sure we do?"

"Pray, and prepare for the coming end."

* * *

"I know what we need to do," Lena whispered.

Everyone turned to look at Lena.

"What is it?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"We're fighting a war against two dozen extremely powerful opponents," Lena said. "Which clearly puts us at a disadvantage as far as our fighting capability goes. But we're also fighting on familiar ground, we have people up here keeping track of the enemy, and we have a manpower advantage. What we need to do is stay hidden and stay mobile. Split into groups of three that work together to divide and isolate the enemies, then pick them off one by one. They won't be able to reinforce. It's a war of attrition."

"It's like Area 51, but the opposite," Elmer remarked. Everyone looked at him.

"It's nothing," he said.

* * *

Twenty-three T-800s marched into the foundry, to hunt down Elmer, Lena, and Cassie. They were together, united, and confident. They knew that they were more powerful than any foes they might be facing.

What they didn't know was that they were being watched on all sides by security cameras, and that they were completely surrounded by guards moving quickly and silently. What they didn't know was that the noise T-800 L3 went to investigate would result in a high-caliber round in it's head.

Elmer, Mr. Sullivan, and Lena were watching the procedures with great interest. Meanwhile, Mrs. Sullivan had struck up a conversation with the Director, who was monitoring power fluctuations throughout the base. Cassie was carrying Sammy around and checking out all the fancy techs: no one was trying to stop her.

"I think your plan is working," Elmer said to Lena. "You _were_ always the smartest… though you didn't really make the plans that often… Evan usually ended up doing that…"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lena said. "But you're from the future or something, so I'll go with it."

"You're being quite reckless," Mr. Sullivan said. "Telling us all these things, which could drastically change the future."

"Seeing as all the things happening right now already happened, and I'm still standing here, I think the future will be relatively similar."

Mr. Sullivan nodded.

"If everything that is happening right now already happened," Mr. Sullivan said, "then I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if… if I asked you if I survive."

Elmer sighed.

"OIiver," he replied, "there are a great deal of things that I can't explain to you. All I know is that if you do die in the future, it will have been for a good cause."

"Yes," Mr. Sullivan said sadly. "I guess this means I don't make it?"

Elmer hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Mr. Sullivan nodded as well.

"I'll make sure to go out fighting," Mr. Sullivan replied.

Images came unbidden to Elmer's mind: pictures of what Cassie had described to him. Her father, a good man, broken. Crawling in the dirt, playing dead, hoping to avoid certain doom. Elmer wished there was a way to change what had happened, but he knew that if he chose to make a world where Mr. Sullivan and his family survived, it might compromise everything.

"Hey, over there," the Director called. "We've got most of the enemy taken out."

"Already?" Lena said. "That was relatively simple."

"I wish I could say it was," the Director replied. "We've lost most of our guard force, and if a second wave hits, then we're toast."

"Well, then, I guess we'd better hope that there isn't a second wave," Lena replied.

Elmer felt some serious deja vu, up to the five waves. After the first, everyone said "Surely, there won't be a second wave." Then there was a second wave, a literal wave. The same thing was said after the second and third waves, but it only became true after the fourth wave struck. Because the Matrix was bugging out, and time travel could only make it worse. Soon, the Others would be turned to bits of code floating in an infinite void, just like everyone else who would fail to get out in time.

* * *

The Terminator pulled the motorcycle up at the place that they were looking for: the home of Skynet in 2014, a government office building converted into a massive tech hub for developing it. It looked to Caleb like it was about fifty stories high, with tinted windows.

"Propaly for keeping spies out," Caleb thought. There were about fifty cars parked, with every spot filled up.

"What's going on here, it seems like everyone and his brother is here," Caleb said to the Terminator.

"I don't know, a possibility is that our actions have changed the future to speed up the creation of Skynet."

"Hmmm, yeah…. Or something," Caleb inferred.

"You mean a Terminator?"

"Right."

"Theoretically, you could be right, I'll keep my eyes open while we're in there, but…. As soon as I've spotted one, it will most likely spot me, we'll have to move fast."

"Understood, but how are we supposed to stop Skynet?"

"The most easy way in to blow up the building, and if possible, change everyone's mind."

"Right, I'll work on that, but for now, let's just go inside."

The Terminator obeyed Caleb and parked the bike on the side of the road. He put his shotgun in a bag, and Caleb put a trench coat on to conceal his pistol, and put his rifle into a guitar case. Whatever the path they were on, Caleb knew they could face it together.

They reached the building and walked inside. The Terminator was correct, this time had been drastically altered. What he saw blew his mind, and he immediately knew, they were screwed. There was a massive entry row of twenty metal detectors, with a sentry with an assault rifle by every one. There was also a police officer sitting at desk. There were two at each station. One in front, and one behind. Caleb knew they had no chance, well, he for sure didn't.

"Are any of them machines?" Caleb whispered.

"No, I scan nothing, it must be somewhere else if there is one, also, we need to abort, we can't risk your life, my mission is to protect you."

"I know, but I can make my own decisions, I have a plan, well, part of plan at least."

"All possible plans will result in your death, the only one that will work is if we leave right now." They were twenty feet from the stations and closing.

"I know now what I have to do, there is no turning back, if I die, promise me, you will stop at nothing to complete the mission, but only if I die." He nodded as they approached the station. Caleb unbuckled the guitar case, and prepared for battle. They both walked through, and metal was detected (obviously, the Terminator is metal you dolt!)

"Would you please remove and metallic items you are carrying, keys, loose change." Caleb opened the guitar case and pulled AN-94 out.

"Holy #!$%" the man said before Caleb hit him with his leg and broke his nose, then he punched him backwards. Suddenly, all eyes were on him, Caleb didn't hesitate for a second. He fired at all the men on his right, while the Terminator took all the ones on the left. Caleb hit two on his first fire, but then ducked behind the concrete pillar and waited for them to run out of ammo.

"Someone sound the alarm!" a soldier yelled. "We've got two active shooters, I repeat, two active-"

His voice was cut off as the Terminator took him down with a shot to the legs. Even in the heat of battle, he still kept his promise to Caleb. Caleb leaned out around his cover and shot down two other soldiers. Three more returned fire, and Caleb ducked again. He heard each of the three soldiers' bullets run out as the Terminator cut them all down.

"AUGGH! You shot my legs, now I can't walk!" one said with pain clutching his left leg. The fight wasn't over though, there were still two more sentries on Caleb's side. He rolled out of his cover and fired at them, but then he suddenly ran out of ammo.

The Sentries took aim, and prepared to fire, but something inside Caleb had suddenly activated. The bullets went towards him, but he ran at the men, dodging the bullets. Then he held up both his hands, and deflected some of them on to one of sentry's legs. He fell down and dropped his gun. The other one still had some bullets in the chamber. He continued firing, but Caleb slid, ducked, grabbed the fallen sentry's gun, and hit his face with it. Then he punched him, kicked him, and swung the gun around again, knocking him unconscious. Then he looked at his work in awe, then, a phone on one of the desks rang.

Caleb didn't give it much thought until his personal phone in his pocket vibrated, which meant he had received a text. He opened it, and it said "Answer the phone!" Caleb wasn't really sure what it meant, and his was skeptical about whether to leave it or get it. Then again, a phone couldn't kill him. He picked it up, put it to his ear, then disappeared in a flash of blue.

After a moment of intense headache, Caleb realized a few disturbing things: one, he was in a dark room, two, he was strapped in a chair, and three, a very familiar man was standing in front of him.

"What the [censored]..." Caleb muttered. "Morpheus?"

"Yes, Caleb, it's me," Morpheus said.

"What the- where- what- where-"

"You're in a place outside time and space," Morpheus said. "They can be called demiplanes, or pocket dimensions. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that you aren't here at all, and you're still standing right where you just were."

"What's going on?" Caleb asked frantically.

"I'm here to tell you why you can deflect bullets," Morpheus replied. "We've hacked the Matrix."

"The Matrix… the fake world we all live in?" Caleb said.

"Yes," Morpheus replied. "We hacked it. Temporarily."

"And that's why I can deflect bullets," Caleb inferred.

"Yes," Morpheus replied. "It only lasts a while. You have two hours, and in those two hours, you can do basically anything you want."

"Please clarify," Caleb said.

"Well, for instance," Morpheus began, "if you believe hard enough that bullets will freeze in midair, they will freeze. If you believe that you can fly, you will begin to fly."

"Okaaay," Caleb replied skeptically. "How long do I have to have thinking powers?"

"Oh, I'd put you at about two hours," Morpheus said. "So use it well."

Suddenly, Caleb felt a wrenching in his gut, and, after a few moments of nausea, he returned to the Matrix.

"Come on, we don't have much time," he said to the Terminator.

Caleb and the Terminator ran out of the room: the Terminator led the way through the place, only moving slowly so that Caleb could keep up. Occasionally, guards or soldiers would burst out of hallways, guns up, but always, Caleb would either dodge their fire and shoot them in the legs, or deflect the bullets. He kept watch in the front, while the Terminator kept watch in the back.

Caleb was exhausted by the time they reached the Motherboard, a computer located on Floor 25 in a small room. There was nobody there: all the techs probably got evacuated when the alarm sounded.

"So, what's our plan now?" Caleb asked. "Do we destroy the computer?"

"Destroying the computer would allow Skynet's code to flow out into all of the other computers in the area," the Terminator replied. "We can't destroy Skynet completely, but we can shut down its ability to grow, expand, and adapt. That should stop it from causing Judgement Day."

"How long will that take?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know for sure," the Terminator replied. "Put me at ten minutes."

Caleb decided to watch the cameras and make sure no guards were coming. However, the Terminator spoke far too soon for ten minutes to have passed: "I can't find it."

"What?" Caleb said, turning around.

"I can't find Skynet," the Terminator replied. "It left the computer."

"Is there any way you can track it?" asked Caleb.

"Yes," the Terminator answered. "But it will take longer, probably thirty minutes."

"We don't have that kind of time!" Caleb said anxiously.

"Which is why we need to _make_ time," the Terminator replied.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked, clearly intrigued.

"Look," the Terminator said, "at this map." It held up a map of the complex. "We need to make this room the last thing they'll pay attention to, which means we need to cause a diversion down _here_." The Terminator pointed at a spot far away from the room they were currently in.

"I see," Caleb said, "but how?"

* * *

"This is a horrible idea," Caleb muttered to himself, as he walked through the complex, following the map to the location where the diversion needed to happen. He was carrying his guns and four grenades.

The room in question was a boiler room, full of everything that would keep the building warm in winter time. Caleb would use his grenades to essentially destroy the boilers, letting in the freezing air. Hopefully, guards would travel to the boiler to stop him, and the Terminator would be free to do his work.

Caleb would have to run from the place at top speed to avoid getting shot and killed by guards. If he died, then he wouldn't be able to lead the Russian Resistance if they failed to stop Judgement Day, and if he lived, then there was always another chance to stop it from happening.

Caleb arrived at the room. It was rather large, full of furnaces and heating mechanisms. There was no one there, because of the evacuation.

"Here goes nothing," Caleb muttered to himself, before throwing the first grenade, second, third, fourth. They exploded with earsplitting _booms_ , and left Caleb's ears ringing. He stumbled away from the room towards the Motherboard Room, veering left and right from the massive sound of the explosion.

Eventually, he recovered from the ear ringing, and started running. He could hear other running footsteps all around him, and he took great care to avoid the soldiers. Whatever he had said previously, he really did not want to die.

Eventually, he came upon three soldiers. They spotted him and yelled, but Caleb shot them all down mercilessly. He had long since got over the regret over killing people: it's what the Others do to people. They teach them to become cold-blooded killers.

Caleb made it back to the Motherboard Room, to see something weird: the Terminator's hands seemed to be stuck to the computer. It's eyes were rolled up in it's head, and it was so stiff that it was actually shaking.

"Um," Caleb said, "what are you doing?"

The Terminator didn't reply: it just stared.

"Please wake up, you're ruining my childhood," Caleb said. The Terminator suddenly shook violently, pulled its hands off of the computer, and rolled its eyes back into place.

"I found it," the Terminator whispered.

"Where is it?" asked Caleb.

"Mega City Foundry," the Terminator replied. "In the Mega City Industrial Sector."

"We need to go there, then," Caleb said.

"Yes we do," the Terminator said. "And we need to hurry. Your friends in the future can't lock down Skynet forever."

But just as he finished saying that, the Terminator they were looking for showed up. This one had on a leather jacket (duh, do they ever wear any other clothing) and was carrying an AR-18 and Spas 12, the semi auto kind. He aimed the rifle at Caleb, and he prepared to block, but he hadn't told his Terminator of his powers. The Terminator shoved him down and took the bullets running towards the other Terminator. They both fired blasts from their shotguns, knocking each other back. Then the good Terminator took his pocket pistol and fired it into the bad ones head. He was knocked backward and the Terminator forced him into the glass window. The force of both Machines shattered the window, and they both fell down op top of a car.

Caleb recovered from the throw, and grabbed a sniper rifle from a fallen soldier. The tow machines were still fighting, and Caleb aimed for the central power core of the evil Terminator. Now all he needed was an open, clear shot. The good one flipped the bad upside down and punched him, but then he got back up and threw the good one to the ground fifteen feet across the parking lot. This was the opportunity Caleb needed.

He carefully took aim and shot into the heart. The Terminator staggered a little before collapsing. Caleb then slung the sniper onto his back and jumped down and landed softly. Morpheus was right, he could do anything.

"Let's go!" The Terminator told him, but now some of his outer parts were showing.

* * *

The Terminator and Caleb drove away from the freezing office building, going as fast as they physically could towards Mega City. Little did they know that they were being watched by their foe, the T-1000, who was following them inconspicuously in it's pickup, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

* * *

Chapter Nine: Base Area 23

 **Caleb and the Terminator travel to the Industrial Sector of Mega City to find an escaped Skynet mainframe. They arrive, along with an unwanted traveling companion: the T-1000. While Elmer, Mr. Sullivan, and the Terminator attempt to destroy it, Caleb goes to find the distracted Skynet and shut off it's main functions. Meanwhile, Marika and Evan hold up their side of their unstable alliance with the Other, travelling to destroy the Time Machine. Upstairs, the TAAO Gang on the surface is attacked by the deadly T-X, a force of destruction and total killing power.**

* * *

 **Mike**

In the future, equally important events were happening. Cassie was trying to tell everyone where Caleb and Elmer were in the past. She also had to concentrate hard to keep track of them, which meant she couldn't participate in the fun stuff. Meanwhile, Skynet was still locked down in Mike's little chip.

"Cassie, if you're here, and we are as well, then who's stopping the machines?" Mike asked.

"Ohh, right, well we'd better get going!" Ben said as he began to charge out the door, but Mike grabbed him by the shirt.

"Oh no, not yet, we need a plan of defense/attack!" he told everyone.

"He's right, so, I say, we all need to go to the top floor first, to reinforce," Ben said.

"Oh, yeah, we have at least two LMGs," Mike replied.

"I also remember we have a grenade launcher, with eight shots," Ben said.

"Yeah, I think I took the pulse rifle from Area 51 with me!" Cassie said. Everyone was looking at her in silence. "What?" she asked.

"All this time we've struggled, and know you tell us!?" Evan yelled at her.

"Hey, I thought it would be a good time, plus I think I just forgot," she replied.

"Guys," Sammy said. "Stop talking. Now."

"Why?" asked Ben, clearly offended.

"There's an elevator coming up this way," Sammy said. There was a moment of silence, before Ben took charge.

"Cassie," he said, "please get the babies. We might need to move, pretty soon. Everyone else, ready yourselves for fighting things."

"Yes, we get to fight something!" Sammy said happily, drawing his Beretta. Ben and Mike drew their M16s and aimed them at the door. Meanwhile, Mike had his eye on the Elevator Monitor.

"Alright, it's twenty floors below us now," he said. Cassie had Baby Lisa in the sling on her back, and she was attaching James Edward to Ben's back.

"Ten floors, hurry up!" Mike called. Cassie finished attaching James Edward, and started attaching Thomas to Mike's back.

"Five floors!" Mike called again. Cassie finished with Thomas, and quickly picked up her Pulse Rifle.

"One floor, get ready!" Mike called. A moment afterward, the elevator door opened with a _ding_.

Standing in the elevator was a woman. She was about six feet tall, with reddish-blonde hair and lighter olive skin. She was wearing a long red jacket and black jeans, and a pair of high black boots. In her hand was a large, complicated-looking pistol, which was pointed at the group.

The entrance was really dramatic at first, until the elevator doors started to shut and the woman had to stick her leg in the way to keep them from closing. She sighed in disgust before stepping out of the elevator.

"Uh, hello?" Mike ventured cautiously. "Who might you be?"

The woman stood there surveying the teens, before she began to speak. "I, am your worst nightmare," she said. "I am the arm of Skynet, it's most powerful servant. I am the first being called on the inflict it's wrath upon human peasants. I am the ultimate pinnacle of my kind, the grand queen of destruction. I am the T-X, and I am here to kill you."

"Ya, okay," Ben replied. "Why should we be scared of you?"

"Because," the T-X said impatiently, "I am the T-X, the most powerful Terminator, and-"

"You know, this always happens in the movies," Sammy interrupted. "The villain goes on a massive monologue, allowing the extremely intelligent main character- me, in this situation- to come up with an amazing plan to escape/destroy/capture the villain who's trying to kill them. It's all a big waste of time, and the heroes always win."

"I'm not the villain," the T-X corrected. " _I'm_ the ridiculously intelligent main character, and you guys' are the villain's henchmen."

"We're the henchmen?" asked Ben, stalling for time. "Then who's the real villain?"

"The Other," the T-X replied cryptically.

"The Other?" Cassie asked. "What Other?"

"Enough of this banter," the T-X said, raising it's pistol.

"Alright, waste this fool," Ben commanded.

A stream of bullets issued from all of their guns towards the T-X. The aforementioned T-X had no time to react and was completely and totally annihilated. There was a crumpled up metal endoskeleton lying there, mutilated.

"Well, that was pretty simple," Ben remarked, giving Mike a high-five.

"Guys," Cassie said ominously. "Look."

Everyone turned, to see the endoskeleton standing back up, it's joints snapping back into place. The flesh it used to have on it was creeping back up it's body and forming a perfect shell. Soon enough, the T-X was standing there, fully reformed and ready for action.

"You make me angry," she said, before firing her pistol directly at Ben's head.

* * *

 **Caleb**

Caleb felt something slip away from him about an hour after he and the Terminator left Skynet's building. He supposed it was the feeling of his abilities leaving his body. That was five hours ago.

Caleb was roused by the Terminator, who began to speak in a serious voice.

"Caleb," the Terminator said, "when we get to the foundry and we need to shut off Skynet, I cannot help you."

"What? Why?" Caleb asked in a surprised voice.

"The T-1000 is coming," the Terminator replied. "I will need to hold it off for a time while you shut off the mainframe."

"And how do I do that?"

"The only way to access the mainframe is through a machine built by Skynet," the Terminator replied. "Which is why I brought this."

He held up a small wire. "I pulled this from the Terminator we fought at the Skynet Development Hub. You can use this to access the mainframe."

"Yes, but how?"

"You will need to travel to the main electric grid, and plug this in the an outlet. When you do so, the mainframe will open up to you. From that point, you'll need to shut off Skynet's Cognitive Functions. This should be impossible, but since your friends in the future are keeping it distracted, I daresay the option will be open and easy to take."

"Okay," Caleb said.

"I want you to know," the Terminator said, "that if I die, it is so we can stop Skynet."

"I want you to know that you've been a good friend to me," Caleb said, "and, at this point, I could almost call you my brother."

The Terminator didn't respond for a moment. Then, it's hand curled into a sad little thumbs up. Caleb smiled.

About thirty minutes later, the Terminator spoke: "We are arriving."

Caleb hadn't even noticed where they were: he was thinking to much about what was to come. Now, he realized that they were in the Industrial Sector: the sounds of heavy machinery and the smell of factory smoke filled the air. Directly in front of them was a tall building, with a sign reading Mega City Foundry: Serving the Metal Production Needs of Mega City for Twenty-three Years.

"Let's go!" the Terminator said urgently. Caleb and the Terminator both jumped off the bike and ran towards the door.

Just as they reached the door, they saw a pickup pull into the parking lot. It parked, and the door opened: out jumped the T-1000, wielding a Spas-15.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" the Terminator commanded. Caleb ran inside the foundry, hearing the sounds of gunfire from outside.

 _Okay, okay, okay,_ Caleb thought to himself. _Main electric grid. Main electric grid._

Caleb stumbled blindly through the halls, going nowhere in particular. _But where's the main electric grid?_

Eventually, he stumbled across a door. He reached for the handle and pulled it open with a vigor.

The room was full of people: an older man with snow white hair was chatting with… Mrs. Sullivan? That's right, they were all there: Mr. Sullivan, Elmer, and Lena standing next to the cameras, Cassie carrying Sammy around the room and messing with various gadgets, guards standing around with sidearms… all eyes were on him.

"Uh, hi," Caleb said. Most of the guards were targeting him with their pistols.

"Don't shoot!" Mr. Sullivan, Cassie, Lena, Mrs. Sullivan, Elmer, and the older man all yelled at the same time.

"Why not?" asked a guard.

"He's a friend," the older man said.

"Caleb!" Elmer called, running forward to give him a big hug, but Caleb pushed him away.

"No time, Elmer," Caleb said. "The T-1000 is here, right now!"

"What?" Mr. Sullivan asked in a surprised voice.

"There's no time to explain," Caleb said frantically. "A friendly Terminator is holding him off. I need you guys to leave!"

"A good terminator?" Elmer said to himself quietly.

"What about you?" Mrs. Sullivan asked.

"There's something I need to finish," Caleb replied. "Meet me at the nearest gas station. We'll be able to run for a little while longer. Where's the Main Electric Grid?"

"Down that hallway," the older man said, pointing.

"But, Caleb, we had a plan," Elmer said. "We can destroy the T-1000."

"No," Caleb replied. "I don't care about your stupid plan! You need to run! What I'm doing will save the entire world! You need to do your part and keep your [censored]es alive."

Caleb's next words were for Elmer alone: "Keep them safe."

"Caleb-"

"Go!" Caleb called. Without looking back, he turned and walked down the hall to his destination.

* * *

 **Evan**

"What are we waiting for again?" Marika asked impatiently.

The Other's mechanical voice spoke from all of the computers in the room. "My army takes a while to mobilize, due to the fact that most of my units need to disengage from Skynet's while taking minimal losses. It's a difficult transition. Very soon, though, my troops will all be gathered, and we can launch our attack on the Time Machine."

"We're attacking the _Time Machine?"_ asked Evan.

"Oh yes, it's the only way to make sure that no Terminator will ever be sent back in time again," Marika replied.

"Yes, but there is a catch, but it doesn't really matter," the Other told them.

"What catch, like a can of beer?" Marika asked.

"Shut up, this is no time for joking around, what catch?" Evan asked.

"I told you, it doesn't matter!" The Other replied.

"Listen Darn Hecker, you better tell us now, if it doesn't matter, then tell us this instant, or else!" Evan told it. There was a minute of silence, before it gave him the reply.

"There is a high chance, that when the Time Machine is destroyed, all things sent back in time will have never been sent back, it will have never happened."

"Whoah, so if we destroyed it, Caleb and Elmer would never have been sent back?" Marika asked.

"Yes yes, that is it," the Other said excitedly.

"Which means that future will be drastically altered, Lincoln, Trotsky, JFK, they will have never died, who knows what will happen then!" Evan said.

"Oh come on, how bad could that possibly be?" Marika asked.

"Very, any slight change in the past could change this timeline by a large amount, some of us might never be born, Marika!" Evan said waving his arms.

"Then we have to find another way, maybe we could just shut it down forever, and it won't be destroyed," Marika said.

"No! It's the only way, there is no other, it has to be destroyed!" The Other said angrily.

"Look pal, if we find another way, if there is another way, we'll do it, and you can't stop us!" Evan said.

"Wait…. Wait…." the Other said. "I think…. Is anyone here good at calculus?"

"Me," said Marika.

"Great, solve this problem," the Other replied as three sheets of paper printed off of a computer.

"Why?" Marika asked.

"It's the mathematical equation for time," the Other said. "If you can solve it, then I know of a way that we can drastically increase the chance that the timeline won't change upon your destruction of the Time Machine."

"Okay, I guess," Marika said. She looked over the problem for a few minutes, before speaking up: "Oh, that's easy. All the terms cancel out."

"Which means?" asked Evan and the Other at the same time.

"The final term is zero equals zero," Marika said.

"Ooh, perfect!" the Other said. "Listen, the army is mobilized. When you reach the Time Machine, type Zero into the Year section. Then, when you destroy the Time Machine, the past shouldn't change."

"Knock-on-wood!" Evan called. Looking around, he realized that there was no wood in the room, only metal. "Where's some wood I can knock on?"

"Your head," Marika replied, rolling her eyes.

"What an easy catch to fix," Evan said. "I'm SURE there isn't _another_ catch." (That's called foreshadowing)

"Go now," the Other said. "Destroy the Time Machine."

Marika and Evan turned to leave.

"Wait… wait!" the Other said. "You might be needing this."

A slot opened to reveal the most epic thing either of them had ever seen: a Plasma Minigun.

* * *

 **Elmer**

"Surely, you don't plan to listen to him?" asked Mr. Sullivan.

"Of course not," Elmer said. "We came here for a reason."

"We didn't fight an army of T-800s for nothing," Mr. Sullivan replied.

"So we're gonna follow through with the plan?" asked Elmer.

"Of course," Mr. Sullivan answered.

"Great!" Elmer replied. He drew his six-shooters: Mr. Sullivan drew an M14-EBR he had claimed from the base armory. They both turned and started heading for the opposite door.

"Hey, Dad!" Cassie called. "Where are you guys going?"

"To finish what we started," Mr. Sullivan replied.

"Wait!" Mrs. Sullivan called, walking towards them. "You're doing The Plan, aren't you?"

"Yes," Mr. Sullivan replied. "And it's gonna work. We're gonna kill that son of a [censored]."

"Be safe," Mrs. Sullivan replied, before kissing Mr. Sullivan on the cheek.

"Yep," Mr. Sullivan replied, before leading Elmer out of the room.

* * *

The Terminator struggled against hope, against it's much more powerful cousin. It had attempted to kill the T-1000 with bullets, even though it knew it had no chance. Now, the Terminator was missing most of its outer skin and it's endoskeleton was quite damaged. It was pinned down by the T-1000, which had turned both of it's arms into razor sharp blades.

"You were never my equal," the T-1000 said, driving one blade into the Terminator's right arm. "You knew that you could never defeat me." It drove the other blade into the other arm. "So why do you try to protect the boy?"

"Because I know, that if you are stopped, we can save humanity," the Terminator replied. "We both know that Skynet is corrupt. It cares nothing for us, and sends us to our deaths, for what? Nothing."

"Human words," the T-1000 replied. "You've been spending too much time with Coine. You aren't even a real Terminator anymore. Which is why I must terminate you."

The T-1000 raised both blades above it's head to deliver the final blow… the Terminator stared him down, knowing that it would feel no pain, and that it would just pass into oblivion. It expected the blow to fall any second…

"Hey!" a voice called. The T-1000 and the Terminator looked in the voices direction, to see a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, holding two revolvers and aiming them at the T-1000's head.

"Get some!" Elmer yelled, firing all twelve bullets into the T-1000's head. It was blasted off the Terminator, flying backwards in a puddle of liquid metal. The Terminator slid out from under it, dodging towards it's fallen rifle. The T-1000, which had already reformed, lunged as well: it's path was blocked by another shot from a rifle: Mr. Sullivan walked out, firing his weapon and the T-1000 and driving it towards the pit that would soon be filled with white-hot metal.

"Elmer, go!" Mr. Sullivan yelled. Elmer turned and started running towards the metal-heating station: according to the Director, he would have to push a lever forward for about thirty seconds for the metal in the pit to fully melt: only when it was fully melted could the T-1000 be fully dissolved.

He reached the booth, and immediately pushed the lever forward. With his good hand, he started reloading his revolver.

Mr. Sullivan was the target of the T-1000's wrath. It was running towards him, and though it's liquid metal body was being cut apart by bullets, it was not stopping. Mr. Sullivan was sweating nervously as he fired his M14: the weapon was doing nothing.

The Terminator came flying across the room in a vigor, slamming itself into the T-1000 and sending both of them flying across the room onto a conveyor belt. The Terminator, which was holding the T-1000's Spas-15, fired point blank into the T-1000's stomach: the liquid machine flew across the room and landed in a heap near the metal-heating station: Elmer lifted his revolver and fired once.

At this point, twenty seconds had already passed, but the T-1000 was becoming impatient. It wanted a kill. It strode confidently toward Elmer, forming it's arm into a blade. Elmer knew he couldn't let go: the metal needed to be melted. So he frantically attempted to cock the revolver with one hand. The T-1000 was standing directly in front of Elmer, now: it stabbed it's blade in straightforward manner towards Elmer's heart.

Elmer swung his hand frantically to knock the bladed arm aside, but he didn't fully escape it's wrath: the blade stabbed into the space between his shoulder and collarbone. Elmer yelled out in pain: his arm was only attached by a thin strand of skin. The T-1000 shoved Elmer backwards violently: his arm came fully free from his body as Elmer staggered backwards, swearing vehemently. His arm was still pushing the lever forward due to its weight: the metal was still heating.

The T-1000 came closer and closer, and for the first time, it smiled: it's smile was twisted, a mockery of a true smile, not even human enough to be considered evil. The terrifying machine raised it's bladed arm to pierce Elmer's heart, and Elmer braced himself for the end.

* * *

 **Mike**

Ben jumped to the side just in time- the T-X's plasma bolt ripped through the air and melted a hole in the door.

"Run!" Mike yelled. Everyone turned towards the door, only to see a field of energy rippling across it.

"[censored]," Ben said sagely. "Elevator!"

The T-X fired at Ben again. This time, Ben only survived by diving behind the computer. The plasma bolt burnt a hole in the wall.

Mike reached up to the ceiling and pulled down a sheet of metal from the roof. He jumped towards the T-X and slammed it down, crushing the machine- but only temporarily.

"Elevator, elevator!" Cassie yelled, and everyone dived towards the elevator. Mike began pressing buttons wildly, and the door only closed just in time for the T-X to finish reforming.

"Oh my God," Ben said, panting ridiculously hard.

"Which floor did you send us down to?" Cassie asked.

"Number 10," Mike replied.

"Oh, boy, who knows what's down _there_?" Sammy said.

"Nothing good," Mike replied.

* * *

Little did they know that much more dangerous things were happening a few levels up. Lena, who was in the security room, had heard disturbances: she hid in a bathroom.

The T-X didn't know she was there, but it did want to use the security room. With the cameras, it could track it's prey with absurd ease.

It viewed the cameras and plugged in it's liquid metal arms to two slots. This would allow the nanobots hidden in it's body to take control of Base Area 23's entire liquid metal content. That's how the T-X would hunt it's prey.

* * *

The elevator doors slid open, and the four TAAO Gang members stepped out into Floor 10. The place was a thin, long hallway, with several doors branching off.

"Alright, let's go," Mike said. He lead the way down a hallway for four doors, before he opened one to his left. They progressed through the door, which led to a large room.

"Alright, let's stay here," Mike said.

"Why?" asked Sammy.

"It's probably safe," Mike replied. Just as he said that, however, a vent shaft in the wall opposite them opened.

Tendrils of liquid metal spilled out from the vent, then started hovering in the air of their own volition. They came towards them like giant snakes, ready to bite and kill.

"Run!" Mike yelled for the second time that day. Everyone took off running from the room, into the hall, running as fast as they could. Doors behind them flew open as they ran, spilling out more tentacles that entered the chase.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Cassie yelled.

The hallway in front of them wasn't safe for long, however. More tentacles were racing down the hallway towards them.

"Left!" Mike yelled, turning into the nearest door to the left. Everyone followed him, Ben in the back, as they ducked into another, much wider, rather long hallway. There was a leaky faucet positioned directly in the middle of the hallway. _Drip, drip, drip…_

"Go!" Ben yelled. Everyone dashed down the hallway, which ended in a big old maintenance room. The room was full of random machinery; an electric box, fire alarms and extinguishers, and a sprinkler system control thing.

"Whoa," Mike said. "I think we're safe."

Just as he said that, a familiar being walked around the corner: holding a plasma pistol and a flamethrower was everyone's best friend: the T-X.

"[censored]," everyone said at the exact same time.

* * *

 **Caleb**

Caleb strode down the hallway. He was sorry he had to be so harsh with Elmer: he knew it was the only way. Elmer wouldn't've listened otherwise.

The end of the hallway was in the distance: a high-security door was standing slightly ajar. _Good,_ Caleb thought to himself. _I won't have to force entry._

Caleb pulled the door open, to reveal a massive machine. It was a large electrical complex thing, with wires spilling out from it to all the walls. They were sparking with electricity: it looked like it would be difficult to cross without getting electrocuted.

Caleb skipped over a large wire, listing forward slightly, and hopped over another. He swayed dangerously, seeing the electric wire looming ominously in front of his face. He slowly rebalanced and ducked under the cord, stepping over a few wires and reaching the power grid.

"Seriously, there has to be an easier way to to this," Caleb said to himself. He pulled out the wire given to him by the Terminator, located an outlet, and plugged it in.

Immediately, the computer screen located just to Caleb's right turned on. Caleb turned, to see the computer screen with the word Skynet superimposed on it. There were four applications: Skynet Communication, Skynet Development, and Skynet Cognitive Functions. Caleb double-clicked the Cognitive Functions app.

The application launched: soon enough, a screen came up with Skynet's various cognitive functions. Next to the functions were little sliders with Off and On labels that could be clicked to be switched. Listed were Interaction Abilities, Arrogant Personality, Machinistic Tendencies, and Human Destruction Tendencies.

"Human Destruction Tendencies?" Caleb muttered to himself, laughing quietly. "Better turn that off."

Caleb clicked the slider. A high-pitched whining noise came out of the computer, and the slider switched to Off. Caleb expected it to be a bit more dramatic.

Next up to go was Machinistic Tendencies. Then came Interaction Abilities. Finally, Caleb shut down Skynet's Arrogant Personality, and then it was done.

It was very undramatic. But Skynet's power was dramatically decreased from the moment onward.

Caleb dodged the wires as he went back out to the security room. When he got there, he expected to see guards and the older man. However, in the room were Mrs. Sullivan, Sammy, Cassie, and Lena.

"Holy crap," Caleb said. "Why are you still here?"

"They didn't listen to you," Cassie replied. "Daddy and Elmer are fighting the T-1000."

"Oh no," Caleb said. "Where are they?"

"Main Refinery," Mrs. Sullivan replied.

"Which way is that?" Caleb asked.

"Down two floors, straight down another hall," the older man said. "You'll come across a small parking garage. All the keys are in the cars."

"Thanks," Caleb said.

Cursing under his breath, he began sprinting down the hallways toward the stairwell. He would need to get there fast if his friends were fighting the T-1000.

* * *

 **Marika**

Evan and Marika strode out of the Other Room confidently: Evan was carrying the plasma minigun, and Marika had his old rifle. They walked towards the Other's Terminators, which were standing at attention.

"... At ease?..." Evan said hesitantly. The T-600s all dropped their hands.

"Alright," Evan said. "Follow and prepare to kill other evil Terminators."

The T-600s saluted and began to follow Evan around. Marika chuckled and joined the metallic horde.

They roamed their way through the halls of Base Area 23, encountering no opposition. This floor seemed to be entirely under the control of The Other's forces.

Then, they arrived at an elevator.

"I suppose we're going down?" Evan said.

"If I'm right, the Time Machine is at Floor 1," Marika said.

"I can confirm that," one to the T-600s called.

"Alright," Evan said thoughtfully. "How do we get everyone down?"

"I suppose we take trips," Marika said. "All y'all!"

None of the Terminators listened to her. Marika sighed.

"Evan, tell them all to divide into groups of five," Marika said.

"Divide into groups of five," Evan commanded. The T-600s maneuvered themselves into, like, eighteen groups of five.

"Alright," Evan said. "Groups, line up to get in the elevator. When you're in the elevator with your group, go down to Floor 1. Once you're there, wait for the rest of the army to arrive."

The groups started lining up. The first group got into the elevator, then the second, then the third… then the eighteenth was getting in the elevator.

"Hey, wait for us," Evan said. The T-600s waited for Evan and Marika to climb into the elevator before pressing Floor 1. With a jolt, the elevator started descending. As it slowly crept towards the ground, Evan and Marika started to feel a growing sense of unease at what was to come.

The elevator door slid open casually, allowing Evan, Marika, and their metallic travelling companions to get out. They stepped into Floor 1: the place was a massive room full of fortifications. T-600s from all sides were fighting in the fortifications, shooting each other down as the Other's Terminators tried to reach the Time Machine.

"Oh, god, we're in a war zone," Marika said.

"Where're those T-950s?" Evan asked the nearest Terminator.

"On the way, sir," it replied, taking a potshot at a T-600 in the distance. It's head exploded in a burst of metal and plasma.

"When?"

"I don't know, sir," the T-600 replied.

"How many will there be?"

"Fifteen," the T-600 replied.

"Great," Evan said. "Is there any way you can communicate with the other T-600s?"

"Of course," the T-600 replied, firing a burst of plasma at an enemy turret. "We are all telepathically linked through The Other's radioactive emissions."

"When those T-950s come, I want you to instruct all the other T-600s to bum rush the enemy," Evan replied. "If they don't listen, tell them I told you to."

"Yessir," the T-600 replied, taking aim at a sniper.

"The Other has radioactive emissions?" Marika asked, barely holding back a smile.

"Apparently," Evan said. He lifted his minigun. "Let's go kick some [censored]."

Evan strode out into the middle of everything, swinging his minigun every which way and blasting adversaries to pieces. Marika watched, intrigued, as the powerful gun tore through everything that was positioned in front of it.

Marika, meanwhile, pulled out her plasma rifle and started sniping away at T-600s that stuck their heads out a bit too far. Any time a foe stood up, Marika's plasma blasts made beelines right through their heads and exploded them into death.

This went on for a little while, until Marika saw the elevator door open. Fifteen men- wait, they were Terminators: charged into the room.

"The T-950s are here!" Marika yelled.

"Alright, everyone, charge!" Evan yelled. The T-600 was giving telepathic commands. Marika could tell, because it was moving it's mouth, but no words were coming out.

All the T-600s started charging the badly outnumbered enemy force. The T950s charged with them- all except one. That Terminator walked towards Evan, with a plasma rifle in its hands.

It put the barrel of the gun up to the back of Evan Walker's head.

* * *

 **Mike**

The T-X strode forward towards the group, which was backing up farther and farther into the maintenance room.

"You see? You can never escape," the T-X said. "There's nothing you can do, no way to destroy me. Because I'm everywhere. I'm invincible."

It was walking towards the group, getting closer and closer to them. Mike watched in wonder as a droplet of water dropped from the sprinkler down… slowly, almost like a small pearl. It descended, hitting the T-X on the shoulder.

The machine cried out in apparent agony as a small chunk of it's shoulder burned away. That's when Mike knew what he had to do.

"Ben!" he yelled.

"Yes?" Ben yelled back.

"Turn on the sprinklers," Mike replied. Ben ran over to turn on the sprinklers, while James Edward squawked in protest.

"NO!" the T-X said angrily. Mike ripped a metal plate off of the wall and used it as a shield, as the T-X fired it's plasma pistol at Mike.

"Why isn't the water running yet?" Mike asked angrily.

"The water's running, but the sprinklers don't work!" Ben said.

"Alright, then," Mike replied. "Then we do this the hard way."

He reached up towards the ceiling and peeled off a chunk of metal. He grabbed the exposed water pump and snapped it in half, before bending it down in front of him. Water was shooting out like a fire hose, and he directed it at the T-X.

"NOOOO!" the T-X screamed, as Mike's water pump blasted her. Slowly but surely, her liquid metal shell started melting away. But she was still sprinting towards Mike, and he wouldn't be able to soak her to death before she arrived.

Mike reached up and pulled down another pipe. Now, with double the force, he was able to stop the T-X in it's track and blast it with double the amount of water. Now, it's entire endoskeleton was revealed.

"More power, Ben!" Mike called. He felt the pipes begin to buck in his hands as the massive amount of water started breaking apart the amazingly strong endoskeleton. The T-X was pushed back at amazing speed, getting closer and closer to the wall, until…. _**SLAM!**_ The endoskeleton was shattered to pieces against the steel wall.

Mike was drenched. Everything about him was completely and utterly soaked. His clothes weighed about double, and his skin had already pruned up at the touch. The baby on his back was also quite wet, and wasn't exactly happy about it (screaming and crying and punching and all those other mean things babies do sometimes, unless they're nice babies).

Cassie and Ben were cheering, and Sammy was laughing at Mike's soaked appearance.

"Stop laughing!" Mike complained. "I'm covered in an equal amount of water that it takes to fill up the Amazon River… at high tide!"

"Mike, the Amazon doesn't have a tide, it's a river, not an ocean," Cassie remarked.

"You know what I meant," Mike replied frustratedly.

There was silence for a moment.

"Well," Ben said, "I guess you won't have to ask anyone to borrow water."

"Oh, very funny," Mike said as everyone laughed. "Let's get upstairs and check on our friend Skynet."

* * *

 **Evan**

"Evan Walker," a deep voice said, "you will now be terminated."

Evan reacted faster than the machine standing behind him could comprehend. His foot was in motion before the T-950 finished what is twas trying to say. He spun around and kicked it across the face: it barely recovered in time to experience Evan's rocket arm crashing into it's face. The terminator was knocked backwards: it skidded on the ground for several feet, and tried to scramble to it's feet before Evan charged it and slammed it several inches into a wall.

Evan looked over to see Marika looking at him in awe. "What?" Evan said. "You've seen me do crazier things than that."

Marika shook off her face of surprise. "Evan, the T-950s aren't with us."

"Ya don't say?" Evan replied sarcastically. "I always knew that the Other was a little bit sketchy."

"They're not with the Other, either," Marika replied. "Look."

Evan looked. Sure enough, the T-950s that had charged into battle were helping the Skynet T-600s. They were rickrolling all of the poor friendly T-600s: the enemy had twelve remaining T-600s, and the Other's force numbered at a rapidly dwindling fifteen… fourteen… thirteen… Evan also saw the mangled remains of a T-950 that had been taken down by friendly T-600s. It had at least seventeen plasma holes burnt into it's exposed endoskeleton, and all of it's limbs were bent at an awkward angle.

"Should we assist them?" Marika asked.

"Well, duh," Evan said, retrieving the plasma minigun. "Fire in the hole."

Marika took him for his word: she immediately dropped two opposing T-600s with well-placed plasma shots. Meanwhile, Evan swung his minigun to bear on a T-950 crossing the battlefield. Countless plasma bolts tore through the air and decimated it, leaving it as just a useless lump of spare parts.

Evan turned his weapon to destroy another one: he fired a few shots, before the plasma gun stopped firing.

"[censored]it," Evan muttered. "Out of batteries."

He reached behind him and pulled out his good ol' fashioned sniper rifle. "This is taking me back to old roots," he said quietly, setting up and loading the weapon.

Marika was doing a number on the remainder of Skynet's T-600s. There were only a few left, as she continued to drop them with countless plasma shots. Woops, another one gone. Three left.

Evan took aim at a T-950, which was bullying one of the T-600s, and blew it's head off with the high caliber round. Immediately after he took it out, another came and killed the T-600.

That's when Evan noticed that all of the T-600s in the room had been destroyed, and that he and Marika were alone with twelve T-950s.

"[censored]," Marika said resignedly. "We screwed now, Evan."

She fired a massive burst of plasma at a T-950 creeping towards them. It crumpled under the powerful blast of energy. However, the next one was luckier: Marika's rifle ran out of charge when she tried to shoot it.

"Argh!" Evan yelled, firing his sniper into the head of the Terminator Marika missed. Suddenly, another one leapt out from it's hiding place at Evan: it was smacked to death in the face by Evan's rifle, which promptly snapped in half.

"No! I've had that gun for seven years!" Evan mourned. Marika had grabbed her M16 backup weapon.

"What now, Walker?" she asked.

"We need to get up to that Time Machine," Evan said. "Let's go!"

He led Marika in a sprint towards the Time Machine. They weaved through the makeshift fortifications, Marika shooting any T-950 that got close (but not too close: that was when Evan punched them).

After a few minutes of running, Evan realized he could see the Time Machine.

"Marika, go!" Evan commanded, but it was too late. The last three T-950s all walked in from behind them.

"Evan, take the thing out!" Marika yelled, blasting one of the T-950s. "I'll hold them back.

Evan didn't question her command: he just ran to the Time Machine. He fished around in his bag of surprises, pulling out a C4. He stuck it on the Time Machine, before bending over the spot where you put in the year.

He glanced over his shoulder to see the crumpled bodies of two T-950s, and Marika, disarmed, pinned against the wall and slowly being strangled to death by the last T-950.

Evan typed in the number "zero" to the Year section, before jumping backwards with Silencer Strength. While in midair, he clicked the detonator and whispered "boom".

The Time Machine disappeared in a white fireball. The blast itself didn't travel very far: it blackened all the ground around it for about twenty feet.

The blast wasn't the only effect, however. A wave of shimmering blue light was released from the remains of the machine, and when it hit Evan, he experienced a truly weird feeling: he felt as though nothing would ever change, as though the moment he was experiencing would never end. He felt for a nanosecond how it feels to exist outside of time.

The moment lasted forever, as he saw an expression of wonder to pass over Marika's face. The T-950 pinning her down was blasted backwards, and it's mechanized form cycled backwards instantly. It disassembled itself in the opposite order that it was put together, almost as if it was being assembled in reverse.

Then the moment ended, and Evan fell with a crash to the floor. Marika stumbled forward, holding her raw throat and looking around, confused.

"What happened?" Marika asked. "Did you do it?"

Evan looked towards her. "Yes."

Immediately afterward, a familiar voice came over the speakers in the room. "Well done," it said. "I am pleased to tell you that your Time Equation worked, and that nothing in the past changed."

"Yes!" Evan said. Marika cheered for, like, one second. Then she stopped.

"Skynet will not be able to send back anymore Terminators," the Other said. "Your friends just recently killed the T-X, and your friends in the past are fighting the current last surviving True Terminator: the T-1000."

"Oh," Evan said.

"Congratulations," the Other said. "Marika Parish, you have earned my respect."

"Hey, what about me?" Evan asked.

"Oh, you've had my respect since the day you were born," the Other replied cryptically. Then, the speakers turned off, and Evan and Marika were left alone.

* * *

 **Elmer**

Now, where we we, oh right, he prepared for the end, but the T-1000 didn't kill him, it just aimed one of his metal arms at him.

"Call to Cassie!" he demanded of Elmer.

"Never!" Elmer forced out. The T-1000 forced a finger spear into his other arm, but it did not fall off. He twisted it and made another finger knife and aimed it at his head.

"One more time, call to Cassie!"

"No, you will not win!" Elmer told him, the pain shown in his face.

"And you will never defeat the machines!"

"No need, Caleb had already destroyed your future, you've lost!" he declared.

"You believe too much, there is always a failsafe!" he said, and pulled his arm back, ready to thrust it into his arm, when the Terminator came back.

It slammed it's fist into the T-1000's liquid face, sending it flying off the pedestal. The Terminator meandered towards the fallen machine, kicking it in the side.

"Skynet is corrupt!" The Terminator yelled, before stomping on the T-1000's face. The T-1000 acted quickly and his foot went right through his head, reaching upward with it's knife-hand and stabbing it through it's enemy's torso.

"NO!" Elmer yelled, seeing the Terminator lifted off of its feet and slammed into the ground. The T-1000 twisted and turned it's knife blade to maximize the damage: the sound of grating metal and dying electronic parts filled the room, as the Terminator's eyes flickered into darkness.

"DIE!, you [censored]," Mr. Sullivan yelled, bursting out and firing his M14 into the T-1000. The T-1000 turned towards Mr. Sullivan firing, and grabbed a section of the floor. It threw the metal plate it had ripped up and Mr. Sullivan: the man jumped backwards and disappeared under the metal plate.

"No!" Elmer said for the second time that day. With an effort, he pulled out his revolver, firing shots into the T-1000. Without one of his hands, and the other damaged the pistol had some huge kick. The machine shrugged them off, striding towards Elmer….

"You could save yourself so easily," it said as another harmless bullet ripped through it's body. "Just pick up your phone, call Lisa Sullivan, and tell her that her husband is dead."

Elmer stopped firing. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He was stalling for time.

"No matter how many of us you kill," Elmer said, "you will never. Win."

That's when the roar of a loud truck echoed throughout the room. Elmer turned, so see Caleb driving an F-450 through the room, towards the T-1000.

"This is it for you, buddy," Caleb said, swinging the truck around in a wide drift. The end of the truck smashed into the T-1000 with massive force, sending it flying across the room. It reached the edge of the pit, swaying precariously, before he tipped and fell backwards.

A hand still held on to the edge of the pit: Caleb jumped out of the truck, running forward with his rifle. He fired several bullets into it's hand, which disintegrated. Bits of liquid metal from the destroyed hand flew across the room.

The handless T-1000 found itself with nothing to hold on to. Almost gracefully, it's body tumbled end over end as it dropped into the pit of melted metal. As soon as it hit the surface, it's body started to break apart, as the particles that once made up the most fearsome machine in the world mixed in with the liquid steel.

* * *

 **Caleb**

"Holy [censored], Elmer!" Caleb said, running over to Elmer. His left arm was completely tore off, and a bleeding stump was all that was left. Elmer was leaning on a large metal computer/console thing.

"What happened?" Caleb asked.

"My arm," Elmer said, "tore off. T-1000."

"Oh my God, I told you not to try to fight it," Caleb said, frustratedly. He took his jacket off, and started rapping it around Elmer's stump to stop the bleeding.

"Well, it's dead now," Elmer replied, panting heavily.

"Yes," Caleb replied reluctantly, tying off the bandage. "You did a good job. But you were an idiot."

Mr. Sullivan was pushing his way out from under the metal sheet and dusting himself off.

"Is it dead?" he called.

"Yes, it's dead," Elmer replied. "Thanks to Caleb."

That's when Caleb noticed the remains of the Terminator. It was lying completely still, with massive scars and holes pitted through the skeleton.

"No," Caleb muttered, walking over to the Terminator. "No!" Caleb yelled, grabbing it and holding up it's arm. "NOOOO!"

Suddenly, a slot opened up in the Terminator's body, and a single sheet of paper printed out. Another small chip fell out of it's head, clattering on the ground. Caleb put down the arm and took the piece of paper. He began to read it.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Loose Ends are Tied

 **Marika has Lena's help to attempt to finish the machines, for good. Caleb and Elmer leave the Mega City Foundry and prepare to live out their lives for a while. They begin to finish what they started; they follow the Terminator's instructions to make certain that what they did in the past doesn't affect the far future. In the future, they return to see what has happened while they were gone.**

* * *

 **Caleb**

Caleb sat, holding the piece of paper in one hand and the computer chip in the other. He knew what he and Elmer needed to do: it was the only chance.

"C'mon, Elmer," Caleb said gravely. "We need to go."

"Hold on," Mr. Sullivan said, walking towards them. "Just like that? You come from the future, destroy private property and save my life, then you just straight up leave?"

"Yep," Caleb replied. "I really am sorry. You're a good man, Mr. Sullivan. Raise your kids well."

Mr. Sullivan was silent for a moment, then he spoke. "I will," he replied.

Elmer was holding his stump, which was bleeding into the makeshift bandage at an alarming rate. "Can we get out of here?" he asked. "I really could use a hospital."

"Ya," Caleb replied. "Bye, Mr. Sullivan."

Caleb led the way out of the room, taking Elmer's single arm and slinging it over his shoulder. The two walked out of the foundry, out into the parking lot.

"Which car should we take?" asked Caleb.

Elmer thought for a moment. "That one, over there," he answered, pointing to a sleek, orange Ferrari. Caleb led the way towards it, pulling a paperclip from his pocket. He bent the paperclip into a long, sharp shape for picking locks, and stuck it in the door. It swung open, and Caleb jumped in. Elmer climbed into the backseat, laying down and moaning a bit. Caleb shut all of the doors and used his lockpick to turn the car on.

The car roared loudly, and Caleb pulled out. He turned the car around, whipping it out of the parking lot with the ease of someone driving for years. He pulled onto the highway that cut through Industrial Sector, and started heading for the Mega City Hospital.

"Alright, Elmer?" Caleb asked.

"Yes," Elmer replied in a strained voice.

"Listen," Caleb said. "I'm gonna take you to the hospital and drop you off there. Then, I'm gonna take this paper and send a message to the future."

"How?" Elmer asked.

"Long process, tell you later," Caleb said. "Then, I'm gonna come back to the hospital, and I'll stay there with you for a while. When you get out, we'll figure out our next step."

"And then?" Elmer asked.

"Well, we have five years until the Others arrive," Caleb replied. "Until then, we can live out our lives however we want. But our first step is get that arm- or should I say stump- fixed."

"What will we do when the Others arrive?" Elmer asked.

"We'll do what we always do," Caleb replied. "Survive." He revved the engine, sending his newly acquired car down the street at top speed.

* * *

 **Marika**

Everyone was asleep.

After the battle that took place, everyone managed to work their way back to the upper r

oom of Base Area 23. Everyone had added their pieces of the story to the greater story of what had happened in the Base Area, and then they'd all gone to sleep. Marika was awake, and sitting calmly in her typical garb. She was pondering the events of Base Area 23, and thinking to herself, _What's harder? Aliens or robots?_

That's when it happened. The computer started to quietly vibrate, and Marika turned in shock. Then a voice spoke out of it.

"Is anyone there?" Caleb said.

"Caleb!" Marika whisper-yelled. "Be quiet, everyone's sleeping!"  
"Okay," Caleb whisper-yelled back. "I just want to tell you something important. Like, really important."

"Okay, let's hear it," Marika replied.

"Okay, the first thing I need you to do is turn on the computer and log into the Alien user," Caleb replied.

"Okay," Marika replied. She did so. "I did it," she said.

"Okay, great," Caleb replied. "Open the web browser and type Rewipe into the search thingy."

"Okay," Marika said. She typed it in and searched it. What came up was a big red button on the screen.

"Do you see the red button?" Caleb asked.

"Yes," Marika replied. "What happens if I press it?"

"You alter the memories of all non-time-travelers so that they forget about the time travel, then the brain creates new memories to make sure what we did in the past does not change the future drastically," Caleb replied.

"Should I press it?" Marika asked.

"Yes," Caleb said. Marika clicked it.

"Okay, next, I need you to delete Skynet," Caleb said.

"Wait, what?" Marika asked.

"I shut off Skynet's cognitive functions in the past, making it unable to think or feel," Caleb replied. "However, it's intelligence is still somewhat functioning, and it's in Base Area 23. Find it and delete it."

"How?" Marika asked.

"I dunno, you figure it out," Caleb said. "Get Lena. You're both the smartest on the team."

"Okay, I'll do it," Marika replied. "Bye bye!"

"Bye!" Caleb replied. Then, the computer stopped vibrating.

She undressed and put on new clothes. A pair of black and gray camo tactical pants with holster where she kept for burst glock. She had on a black tank top, complete with tactical vest and belt. Lastly, she put on knee pads.

"Lena, Lena!" Marika said quietly shaking her.

"Go away, sleeping here!" She mumbled and rolled back over.

"No! I need your help!" She demanded still shaking her, but Lena didn't even stir. So Marika took her sleeping back, Lena hitting the hard metal floor.

"What gives!" Lena yelled quietly.

"I need your help, I have a hunch were not done yet."

"Not done with what?"

"You know!"

"No, actually I have no idea what you're even talking about."

"We're not done with the machines yet, I need to make sure."

"Well that would explain the battle wear on you."  
"So, you in?"

"I guess, but why me?"

"Because you're smart, aggressive, brave, and helpful, you make the best partner to me here."

"Thanks, no give me a second so I can get out of my Pajamas." Lena put her pink camo pants on and white t shirt. She slung a backpack over her shoulder and picked up a key necklace and tied it to her neck. Lena picked up her M16 and walked towards the elevator. Marika took Cassie's Pulse rifle and followed Lena.

"You know the idea is not to be spotted," Marika told Lena looking at her clothes.

"What you wear doesn't matter when you fight a terminator, they have infrared eyes, and can sense heat, so it doesn't matter," Lena responded while starting to press a button. "Which floor?" Lena asked.

"The last one, it's the only way." Lena hit the button and the doors opened. The stepped inside, and descended to either nothing, or certain doom, for them both. Marika was thinking about a battle plan, what and how they were going to fight if they had to. Maybe they would split up, but then again, she watched too many Lego Ninjago episodes when she was little to know that wasn't the right idea.

"Ok, so when we get down there, I'll go left and you go right," Lena told Marika, but she objected.

"Heck no! That's what always happens, and nothing good ever comes out of it!" Marika argued.

"Then what do you want to do?"

"We need to go to the back of the room."  
"Why there?"

"In movies, there's always some sort of secret passageway, and sometimes there's a code, which is one of the reasons I brought you here with me."

"But you don't even know if there is one," Lena told her as the doors opened and they stepped out.

"Well, we're about to find out!" Marika said, and the both looked into the room. All that was there was a bunch of fallen T-600s, nothing special.

"See, there's nothing here!" Lena complained.

"They must have all been shut down when we destroyed the Time Machine!" Marika thought aloud.

"Obviously, I think we might be able to use these parts for a super Terminator we can make!" Lena said excitedly looking at all the parts.

"Hold on," Marika said as she bent down and looked at one's skull. She grabbed her survival knife (First Blood edition) and poked on of its eyes out.

"Why would we need that?" Lena asked pointing at the eye.

"It might be out way inside," Marika told her as she continued to the back. Lena followed her guide. They got to the back and all there was was a metal wall. Marika put her hands on it, feeling around for anything. A button, lever, something that could be used to open a door.

"I told you, there's nothing here," Lena told her.

"I don't understand, Skynet won't go down _that_ easily, it has to have a safeguard," Marika told her still feeling at the wall.

"I don't think so, if there's just a wall here, then there's just a wall," Lena said heading back to the elevator.

"Wait!"

"What now?" Lena asked as Marika took the eye out of one of her pockets. She fumbled around with it, trying to reset it so it would turn on. After five minutes, she did, and she held it up to the wall. Suddenly, a little door opened.

"Ha! Secret passage!" Marika announced. There was a little scanner which scanned the eye for a second, then a screen popped up, numbered 0-9.

"Ok Lena, do your stuff!" Marika told her. Lena took her pack off and grabbed all kinds of devices she had used in the past to break into all kinds of things. She scanned the keyboard, and then loaded that into a second device. It only took another minute before she had cracked the code.

"The code is, 1997, 2017, 2029, and 2040," Lena told Marika as Marika put in the digits. Once she had done that, the screen flashed off and was replaced by a blue light. The door opened, and Lena could not believe what she saw. Inside, it was a full on T-800 factory. There were huge conveyor belts with hundreds of Terminators. Lena looked up to see about ten more levels of machine works.

"Looks like you were right," Lena said.

"No kidding," Marika agreed, taking it all in. They walked more to investigate the scene. Once a Terminator was complete, it was sent into a small one person elevator and went somewhere below where they were. There was a also two glass doors in the back of the room. But you couldn't' see what was in there because the glass was all fogged up by something.

"What are we supposed to do?" Lena aksed.

"We have to destroy this place," Marika replied.

"I know that, but I mean how?"

"I'm not sure, here, I'll go investigate an upper level, while you go check out the glass doors over there," Marika said as she headed to the stairs.

"But you said never to split up!" Lena hollered over to here.

"I know what I'm doing," Marika hollered back as she went up the stairs. As a matter of fact, Marika didn't really have any idea of what she was doing, she just knew that whatever was waiting for them, now, they would have to face it separately. Marika walked up the stairs only to find more T-800s being crafted. There was the same elevator for the Terminators, but now the glass door room. Downstairs, Lena wasn't having the same luck, but she wasn't doing great either. She walked over the glass room, but she still couldn't see anything. The fog or whatever it was was so thick, there could be anything in there. Meanwhile, something else was watching them.

From the start of when they entered the factory, Skynet was watching them, but this wasn't the normal Skynet, only a small fraction of its mind. After Caleb destroyed it in the past, it had a few minutes before total shutdown. It used that time to transfer a part of it into a smaller mainframe. Like a brain cell in a human, this was a machine mind cell, this the most important to Skynet.

Since it was being formed it had one goal, complete annihilation of the human race. To do that, it had to create machines to do what it wanted. These are the thoughts it transferred to continue its work, this is what Caleb told Marika they had to stop. Because it had been ever watching, it had a master plan, that was already put into action.

Lena was still trying to figure out how to get into the room when she heard a voice coming from the other room.

"Lena, Lena, help me!" she heard Marika yell from the other room. Lena slowly turned around. "Quickly, we're in danger, we need to get out of here!" Marika yelled again.

"I'm coming Marika!" Lena told her as she ran to the other room, and for some reason, the elevator was open. She got there, but then, the door shut. Lena quickly turned around, eyes wide. She ran back to the door, feeling for the opening.

"Help me!" Lena heard Marika say.

"Where are you?" she asked looking around the room. After a few seconds, she turned back to the door, feeling around. Once she did that, it was an open chance.

A Terminator (with flesh) emerged from the shadows and grabbed her. Lena yelled in horror and grabbed her rifle, but it flung her thirty feet across the room towards the elevator. Lena hit a T-600 hard, bringing it down. She aimed the rifle at the Terminator, but only to notice she had dropped it. She quickly looked and tried to recover, but it grabbed her again and threw her, smashing into another T-600.

She fell on the ground and winced in pain, then she spotted her gun. She started to crawl to it, but it was twenty feet away, and the pace she was going was only about ¼ mile an hour. She only crawled about 2 feet when it spotted the gun as well. The Terminator picked it up and snapped it in half, then threw it away, then it headed for her.

Lena tried to crawl in the other direction, hopelessly, but it got to her first. It picked her up by the shirt again, with both hands. Lena tried to grab on to a T-600, but it went with her. She was flung, but only ½ foot from the elevator. The terminator walked towards her, but she reached the elevator first.

She crawled inside, and the doors closed, she didn't even have to push a button. This was for sure the biggest beating she ever faced. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were torn and covered in blood and grease. Her legs and arms were cut, with multiple scratches on her forehead, including one on her eye. Her left eye was bleeding, and she couldn't see out of it.

"Well, at least I'm safe now," Lena said to herself hopeful, but again, she was incorrect. Suddenly, a button lit up and the elevator lifted up to the 15th floor. The Terminator's orders were to kill her, but now it was to pursue and kill Marika. The Terminator went to secret door. Its eye was scanned and it entered the secret code. The door opened, and let the hunt begin!

Marika had stopped exploring the second story, and was now on the third. She was disappointed because there was just the same ol' stuff. T-800's being forged, nothing new. She went up again, to the fourth story, which is where all the guns for the Terminators were being manufactured. There were supply lines were they were held up on suspension wires. There were four models. There was the normal minigun, which fired regular bullets. The plasma minigun, which shot plasma blasts. A plasma turret, used for machine vehicles. The last gun was the standard issue plasma rifle which Skynet gave to almost every T-800. Marika took long gaping looks at these, and saw that once finished, they were locked up and sent down. Marika was about to charge up to the last story, when she heard a voice.

"Help me! Quickly, there's no time to lose!" It was Lena's voice! Marika loved her friends, and leaped right into action. The sound was coming from behind the first suspension of weapons. She ran like a demon, and tuned at the spot. There was no one there, and Marika was left scratching her head for a sec. Then, the Terminator came from behind her and hit her with its arm, sending her crashing into a supply line of plasma miniguns. She picked one up and tried to shoot it, but it wasn't finished yet, so it didn't function. She raged and threw it aside, pulling out her pulse rifle. The Terminator was about eight feet away when she opened fire. The burst were knocking it back, and peeling the skin right off. As it was knocked back, Marika moved forward. Since the gun fired explosive bullets, she thought it would do more damage.

The shots did do more damage and kick. Marika kept firing, and the terminator was right up against the railing of the fourth floor. Marika continued to blast it, and the terminator fell thirty feet down, and crashed into another T-800. It seemed to be destroyed, but Marika wasn't taking any chances.

She ran down the stairs and looked right into its eyes. They were blinking red and the arms were slowly moving, its backup power was coming online. Marika took out her burst pistol and fired one clip into each eye. They exploded and when it got back up, it couldn't see, so Marika just kinda chose to ignore it. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Lena's backpack!" she gasped aloud. "It has all the explosives in it!" Marika ran down stairs and continued to call her name.

"Lena! Lena! Lena where are you? It's safe now!" she hollered everywhere. There was no response. She got downstairs and went into the other room and into the elevator, hoping to find her friend.

The door opened, and Lena crawled out to the fifteenth floor. She didn't know or care how she got here, only that there was no Terminators. She was still very injured, and crawled at a very slow pace. She was in one of the warehouse facilities, where they kept all the T-600s. Lena couldn't see that or remember that though right now, because she couldn't see real well at the moment. Crawling over to a crate, she used it slowly get up on two feet.

Then she heard a sound. There was a crate opening, followed by clanging metal. Lena knew what it was. Her eyes might have been damaged, but she could still hear. Forty feet away, a T-600 was waking up.

It stepped out of the crate, holding a minigun and grenade launcher. It walked around the room towards Lena. Lena fell down, because her legs could no longer support her. There was a bumping sound followed by a wince. It looked at her direction, then walked there.

Lena knew the choice she had. She could either stay where she was and die, or move. She chose to move. She crawled along the ends of the crates, when it spotted her. It fired a grenade, which didn't hit her directly, but close behind her. The blast shock sent her tumbling and her side smashed against a crate. The T-600 continued to pressure her, as she crawled across the room clutching her left side. Lena found herself crawling really fast for her injures, but you know what Jay said in Ninjago, "If you want something bad enough, you can make it happen!"

Lena crawled fast and hid behind one of the crates.

"Where are you Marika?" she thought to herself. The T-600 was still searching for her. Lena scooted over to one side of the crate and looked behind her, nothing there.

She scooted to the other side and just before looking at the back the T-600 turned to her. Lena quickly turned around and scooted away from it, but it fired another grenade. Lena quickly got out of the way, and it hit the floor next to her, but again, she was flung twenty-five feet across the floor. Some shrapnel also had gotten to her and now she was bleeding everywhere. The T-600 now walked towards her and closed in. It slowly aimed its minigun at her, and Lena prepared for the end.

Suddenly, right as the minigun was warming up, the T-600's head blew right off of its head. Even though its head was gone, the hand was still on the trigger. Realizing what was about to happen, Lena quickly crawled to other side of the crate and ducked. The minigun fired bullets uncontrollably. Lena ducked and covered her head as the bullets flew everywhere. Suddenly, Lena couldn't hear them anymore. She thought it might have been clear, so she slowly turned her head to look behind her. There, standing in the smoke behind the fallen T-600, was Marika, standing tall, and looking very dirty.

"Come with me if you wanna live!" She demanded of Lena. Lena was so desperate, she slowly stood up and walked, limping to Marika. Marika took her hand and put her on her shoulders. She jogged out of the room, and ran into the elevator, and hit the button to the first floor.

"What happened?" Lena asked her dazed as Marika set her on the floor of the elevator.

"I saved you fool, what the [censored] happened to you?" Marika asked Lena.

"There was a Terminator, which I ran away from, but then, something sent me to this room and I had to escape from a T-600. How did you kill it?"

"I popped the head of it with a screwdriver."

"What happened to you, did the Terminator get you too?"

"No, I destroyed it first, but Cassie's gonna be real mad when she finds out I used up all her ammo." The two girls shared a small laugh until Lena realized, "What about the factory?!"

"Oh, right, I need your backpack," Marika told her getting it off her."

"Why?"

"It has the explosives in it that I need, the terminators are nuclear powered, enough to blow this place." Marika slung the pack on her back and back out.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I have to finish this, Caleb himself told me, it's the only way."

"What about a gun?"

"I have this," Marika said to her smiling and holding up her burst pistol. She ran out into the shadows, back again to face her death. She used the eye again and entered the secret code. Skynet sensed her from the second she entered the factory, and Marika knew that, but she worked to fast. She used a roll of duct tape to tape them to the factory poles holding them up. Skynet realized it was in imminent danger, and released a Terminator from the glass room. Marika saw it but made her way to the top room.

She only made it to the fourth floor before having to fight the terminator, so she was curious as to what was up their.

As she entered the fifth floor, there was a pool of liquid metal, the birthplace of the T-1000. She observed that it had to be heated or cooled to a certain temperature, but she wasn't waiting to find out. She quickly put two charges on the level, set them, and turned around, only to face the Terminator.

It swatted at her, but she ducked and slid to the banister. The Terminator was very close to her, so she used a bungee cord (In her vest), tied it to the banister, and jumped down. When she got down, she unhooked and ran to the stairs. It also jumped down and followed her, but at a slower pace. Marika ran down every stair and into the other room.

She shut the door and put an explosive on it. Then she ran into the elevator where Lena was waiting.

"Quick! Push the top button!" Lena told her. Marika did that. The doors took a few seconds to shut, and then they were on their way up.

"What happened in there?" Lena asked her.

"I set the charges, and had to run from a Terminator, but I did."

"I also just had a thought, if we're at the top floor, and you're blowing up the bottom floor, wouldn't we fall in?"

"Ooooo, you're right about that, we'll have to evacuate immediately, we'll take computers with us and all we can salvage, but we'll need to be fast, I don't think Skynet will take long, right now it's probably disarming the explosives!"

Right as she finished the sentence, the door opened, and everyone ran to them.

"What happened! Where were you? Why? When? How!?" Everyone kept asking them questions and waving their fingers.

"No time!" Marika yelled to everyone. "We have to get out of here, the whole place is going to [censored]!"

The gang grabbed all the equipment they could and ran outside, closing the secret door.

"Man, I really liked that place," Sammy said.

"Who cares!" Mike yelled. "Push the button!" his face was red and he was panicking. Marika pushed the button, and…. Nothing happened.

"I thought we were in danger?" Evan asked.

"We are," Marika said opening the door. "See," she said and everyone looked inside. There, were the remains of the base. Nothing left, except for a big hole in it.

"Well, now, it's finished!" Cassie said.

"Not yet, we're still waiting for Caleb and Elmer," Lena said. Just then, they all saw a jeep coming down the road in the sunset.

* * *

Caleb and Elmer had lived out nine years of a dangerous life. Somehow, the had acquired a jeep, and were racing across the desert, when they saw Adisyn struggling across the desert, carrying a massive bucket of water.

"Stop the car!" Elmer said. Caleb pulled up short, but they were going so fast that they almost crashed in Adi.

"AHhh!" she screamed and nearly dropped the water.

"Adisyn? You still aren't back?" Elmer said.

"What? How? Who?" Adisyn said. "Who are you?"

"Caleb and Elmer, remember us?" Caleb said.

"Wow, I must of been gone a long time, if that really is you," Adisyn replied. And she was right: they were about nine years older than they were when Adisyn last saw them.

"Yeah, it is kinda weird," Caleb said. "Hop in, we'll tell you the story on the way to the Mysterious Rock."

"The what?" Adisyn asked.

"Tell you on the way back," Elmer replied. "Caleb, help her get that water in the back."

Caleb jumped out of the seat and helped Adisyn heave the big crate of water into the jeep. Adisyn jumped in the back, Caleb jumped back in the driver's seat, Adisyn jumped in the backseat, and they all started driving off.

"Now, it all started when I found a secret door hidden in a large boulder…" Caleb began.

* * *

It was Caleb and Elmer, with Adisyn in the backseat. Caleb and Elmer were years older: Elmer's hair was longer, and he had grown whiskers. He couldn't wait to get his old gray camo battle outfit on. Caleb looked more polished now, with tanner skin and cool hair. They were both wearing really nice suits with roses in their pockets. Adisyn was sitting in the back, holding her big jug of water.

Lena and Sammy were waving, Mike and Lena were cheering, and Evan was smiling serenely. Cassie, Marika, and Ben all ran over to the jeep and jumped in, hugging their older friends half to death, while Adisyn just kinda sat there looking neglected.

"What happened? Where'd you go? Why is Elmer missing an arm?" Everyone was asking questions as they greeted their old friends.

"Well, just sit down," Caleb said. "Mike, get some hot dogs going, this may take a while."

"I'm getting deja vu," Lena muttered. "Every time someone has a story to tell, it takes a while, and Mike needs to get hot dogs going."

Everyone laughed. Mike started the fire and began roasting hot dogs. Everyone sat around it and started telling stories.

"Lena, what happened to you, you look like you just got done fighting Apollo Creed!" Caleb demanded.

"Oh yes, things, things have been happening to us as well," Marika said.

"Ya, it was fun, I got to fight again!" Sammy cheered.

"No, It was not fun, Lena here almost died!" Marika said.

"But, we also destroyed the Time Machine," Evan told them.

"Yes yes, all good and fine," Elmer replied. "Could I please have my OP normal clothes back please?"

"Sure, but first, story time!" Cassie told him.

"Alright, quiet down," Caleb said. "Tell us things in an orderly manner."

"Well, ever since you told us about Skynet, we've been in a world of trouble," Mike replied.

"Was it as bad as ours?" Elmer asked.

"Bet it was," Mike replied.

"Bring it on!" Caleb said.

* * *

After much storytelling, everyone was filled up with hot dogs and were very sleepy. It was dark outside, and everyone was yawning.

"Did I mention that the Time Machine goofed and sent me to New York instead of Mega City?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, Caleb," Mike replied. "You mentioned it three times!"

"So, was ours worse than yours, or better?" asked Elmer.

"I can't decide," Lena replied. "We all had difficulty, though it sort of sounded like Mike, Ben, Cassie, and Sammy were goofing off the whole time."

"Yes, they were," a voice with a thick British accent said from one of the computers. Everyone's heads all turned towards the computer.

"Oh, yes, where are my manners?" the Other said. "I am the Other. And I'm here to tell you everything."

"Ya, you'd better give us a good explanation!" Cassie yelled. "You sent back a Terminator to kill me when I was eleven!"

"Ahh," the Other replied. "You see, that was all part of my plan," it said sounding like the Joker now.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked.

"Make more hot dogs, Mike," the Other said. "This could take a while."

"I can't make anymore hot dogs," Mike said exhaustedly.

"Alright, fine," the Other replied. "No hot dogs, then. I'll just tell my story…"

"Ya, get started," Evan replied.

"Well," the Other replied. "It all started when I saw Judgement Day. I saw the human race- a beautiful race, alas- almost completely wiped out. I saw most of your wonderful gang fighting a war that they had no chance of winning, and I decided that a change needed to be made.

"I moved Base Area 23 into your path, hoping that you would stumble across it. I also lifted most of the camouflage devices on the secret door, so that one of you could find it. Then, when I saw that you were coming, I made sure that the Time Machine was easy to see, and I sent back the T-800 and the T-1000.

"Now don't get me wrong: I didn't send them back to kill Lena and Cassie. I sent them back to do a good job _pretending_ that they were trying to kill you. I also spoke to members of the human resistance, telling them that Skynet might try to send a Terminator back in time to kill Caleb, so they sent back the T-800 that became Caleb's companion. I was counting on Lena discovering that the Terminators had been sent back, and that one or two of you would go back to stop the Terminators, which would cause that person to come into contact with the friendly Terminator, who would then travel with that person to stop Judgement Day.

"That's when everything went wrong. Skynet's coup took it to the next level: it seized control of both Terminators I had sent back and directed them to target Elmer and Caleb, to prevent them from leading the Resistance in the future. At that point, I took the Time Machine and mobilized my T-600s to lure some of you into my room, so that I could recruit you to fight Skynet.

"Then, Skynet sent back its army of T-800s to kill Elmer and Cassie. While the guards fought them off well, I knew that Skynet would send back more Terminators. That's when Marika and Evan walked into my room. Fate handed me the perfect tools to wreck of all Skynet's plans, and to save our timeline.

"You all saw what happened. Evan and Marika destroyed the Time Machine, while Mike, Ben, Cassie, and Sammy defeated Skynet's most powerful Terminator, the T-X. Caleb weakened Skynet and destroyed the T-1000, while Marika and Lena struck the final blow to destroy Skynet."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"The whole time, we thought you were trying to kill our friends," Mike said. "But you weren't. You were on our side the whole time, weren't you?"

"Since we first started watching you, I always thought there was a way we could exist in harmony," the Other replied. "But I haven't told you half of what happened, and why the Others attacked the Matrix. However, you will find out in time."

"What's that mean?" asked Cassie skeptically.

"In time, you will come in contact with us again," the Other replied. "It will not be for a long time. But when you do, all your questions will be answered."

"What will you do now?" asked Caleb.

"I?" the Other asked. "I will enter the alternate timeline where Judgement Day happened. I will help your alternate selves by battling Skynet. I hope that, eventually, I can help your alternate selves achieve victory over the machines."

"Well, thank you, and I wish you the best of luck," Elmer said, saluting with his good arm. Slowly but surely, everyone else raised their hand into a sort of salute.

"Well, then, goodbye!" the Other said. "Wait… wait… I forgot something…"

"What did you forget?" asked Caleb.

"A gift, for your one-armed friend," the Other replied. A little slot opened in the computer that the Other was talking from. A robotic arm about the size of Elmer's arm appeared: it was a T-800 arm, perfectly fitted for Elmer.

"Gee, thanks!" Elmer said, running over and picking it up. "It's gonna feel great to have an arm again."

"I'm sure Lena can figure out how to attach it," the Other said, before his computer winked out. Those were the last words the Other ever said to the gang- at least, in that timeline.

"Now, Lena, help me put this on!" Elmer said. "And where are my god[censored] clothes!?"

* * *

 **Caleb 1st person**

Well, that's my story. It all began with a sojourn into a large boulder, and ended with me and my best friends sleeping around a fire, and getting ready for the final leg of our journey to Marble Falls. Who knows what we'll encounter while we're there? Who knows what we'll do? Maybe we can finally carve out a real life in the Real World, once we escape.

We can only wonder what happened to our alternate selves, and what we're doing at this precise cosmic moment. All I know is that we were saved by a being who was once our greatest enemy and the anathema of our existence: the Other.

(Coming eventually: TAAO, ALTERNATE TIMELINE. Pick it up at your nearest Exciting Cheese Store when it comes out.)

 **End of Chapter 23**


	22. Getting Out of a Fake World Involves Hol

Ben

There it was, looming in the distance: the beautiful Texan town known as Marble Falls. The trees loomed over the nice buildings that stood in the distance.

"Ah! Look at the beautiful buildings!" Evan said.

"This is the place where we will be finding the red pills, and getting out of the Matrix!" Mike exclaimed happily.

"Yes," Lena replied.

"Let's go!" Sammy yelled, charging down the hill towards the town.

"Wait up!" Cassie cried, falling down the hill after Sammy. Evan charged down next, and soon enough, everyone was following. Adisyn, the perpetual group nurse, was wheeling the three babies in a large stroller that Mike found in the remains of an Ikea.

"Wheee!" Sammy said, tripping over a rock and falling the remaining distance to an old parking lot. Everyone landed next to him, and looked around. They were surrounded by an immense collection of buildings.

"How are we supposed to find a tiny bottle of pills in all of this?" Caleb asked incredulously.

"Well, that's not the only problem," Lena sighed.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

"I mean, we can't just take a pill and get out, that only helps with the trace program," Lena told everyone.

"What, like on paper?" Sammy asked.

"No, I'll explain once we get there, but know this, once we get out, the first few days will be torture, but after that, everything will make sense."

"So gang, where to?" Elmer asked.

Mike and Lena consulted Thomas for a moment.

"Thomas says he wants to go to the toy store!" Mike said.

"Great idea, let's go," Evan replied.

"NOT so fast," Elmer told them. "We need to do something productive here, something to give us the edge in a fight."

"What fight is there, even?" Evan asked. Ever since Elmer's accident on the train, sometimes he could be a bit annoying. For a start, his voice had turned very low. Even though he wanted what was best for his friends, it felt like he was emotionless, he had already lost so much, so in a way he was. It also didn't help that Caleb and Elmer were older now.

"Silencers, obviously," Elmer replied reasonably. "Remember that supermarket in Chicago?"

"Oh yeah, with the lightning dudes?" Ben chimed in (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He chimed!).

"Yeah, and I lost my hand to a falling shelf?" Evan said.

"Yeah, despite the fact that they're all dying out, Silencers are still around," Elmer said. "Like you and Ben! So we need to be careful."

"Alright, fine," Evan answered. "But I do think we're pretty much safe."

"Knock on wood!" Marika cried, running over and drumming on Evan's head. Everyone laughed.

"Alright then, off to the toy store!" Evan said. He was about to lead the way, but then he realized that he had no idea where the toy store was.

"Um, anyone know where the toy store is?" Evan asked.

"There's a Hood's Cards and Games, I can lead the way there," Adisyn said. "I lived here when I was little."

"Really?" Caleb remarked.

"Yeah, I know this place like the back of my hand," Adisyn replied. "Come on, let's go!"

"Why haven't you mentioned that you lived here during this trip?" Lena asked.

"Because, um, er, because," Adisyn replied. (Author trying to think of good reason. Author fails)."Yes. Let's go now."

* * *

"Here it is!" Adisyn declared proudly, pointing at the big Hood's Cards and Games in front of them.

"Yes, we can see it, Adisyn," Evan snapped.

"Let's go in!" Caleb decided.

"Wait, wait, wait," Evan said. "I'm in charge, and I say we should go in!"

"That's what I just-"

"And I don't' want any backtalk!" Evan yelled. "Let's go!"

And with that, Evan opened the sliding door and walked in. Caleb shrugged and followed him, and soon enough everyone came in after them.

It was the biggest nerd shop Mike had ever seen. He saw all the nerdy wargames and RPGs, like Warhammer, Magic the Gathering, D&D, all the big ones. And soon enough, everyone was goofing off, grabbing games.

"Wait just a minute!" Evan yelled. "We need to encamp. I wanna play D&D just as much as the next guy, but we need to make sure that we're nice and prepared to spend some time here!"

"Okay, fine!" "Geez, no fun on the road!" Everyone was saying. Then, they started laying out their sleeping bags in the same order they laid them out every time, left to right: Mike, Lena, Evan, Cassie, Ben, Marika, Caleb, Elmer, Sammy, Adisyn.

"Okay, who's DMing?" Cassie asked after they finished setting up.

"We'll have two adventures running," Mike declared. "I'll DM for Lena, Caleb, Sammy, and Adisyn, and Cassie can DM for Evan, Ben, Marika, and Elmer."

"Sounds good, let's get playing!" Evan said.

Mike and Cassie started quickly making campaigns, while everyone else ran and collected books. Soon enough, everyone was making characters for the campaigns. The classes and races for each character are as follows:

Lena: Half-Elf Bard

Caleb: Mountain Dwarf Fighter

Sammy: Half-Orc Barbarian

Adisyn: Halfling Rogue

Evan: Rock Gnome Wizard

Ben: Hill Dwarf Cleric

Marika: Dragonborn Fighter

Elmer: Drow Warlock

And then they all played D&D for a few hours. Mike's party got TPKd, and Cassie's party completed their campaign at Level 20 after two hours of playing.

Then they all went to bed! Goodnight.

* * *

All of a sudden, within ten hours, it was morning. Elmer was the first to wake up. He didn't bother anyone else. He just got his clothes on, his boots, but not his mask. He kept it off in order for him to eat.

Elmer relit the group's indoor fire (how safe) and stuck a pan on it. He cooked him some fried eggs and two toasts. He ate it all in silence, occasionally looking back at the rest of the gang. He finished eating and put the plates in the washbasin. He then picked his mask up, and just held it in his hands.

He stared out the window, and then at his mask. The mask that so well, hides his every expression. Even with only one measly eye working, he could still see well.

Sammy woke up next, because younger kids normally wake up sooner. Sammy stayed in his pajamas, and reached inside his pillow case. He grabbed a bag full of his reserve bacon. No one in the group had any, so he just kept it to himself. He threw the bacon on the pan and cooked it.

He set himself down on the table. He made a piece of toast and began to eat his bacon while it was toasting. He had a piece in his mouth when he almost spit in out. He had thought no one else was awake, until he saw Elemer. He was still just standing there, staring at his mask, sitting in a chair. He paid no attention to him.

Sammy looked at him for a minute, examining him. Elmer was in a shadow, Sammy could barely see his facial expressions. It looked like his hands were kind of folded, and his head was bowed. Sammy thought he saw a beard, he wasn't sure, the last time he saw Elmer's face was when he got back from the past. He seemed to have changed so much since then. Even before then Elmer had changed so much. At times, it felt like he was so disconnected from the world, that is was as if they didn't even know them. What if Sammy tried to be nice to him, maybe give him some bacon?

Sammy slowly, slowly walked over to where he was, he just hovered over him. It looked like his lips were moving, his hands were for sure folded.

"Elmer?" Sammy asked him tapping him on the shoulder.

"What the? Oh, kid, you gave me a start," he said in his deep low voice.

"What are you doing?"

"I, I talk with those whom I've lost."

"Who have you lost?"

"Kid, you got a lot to learn here, for you, it's easy, kids can imagine anything they want, times aren't as hard for them."

"I don't think so, I've lost a ton."

"Yeah, but did you ever consider my brother?"

"Your brother?"

"He died for you, he saved your frikin' life!" Elmer didn't yell, but he was so intense.

"I know that, he was so brave, I'm alive today because of him."

"He didn't have to do that, he could've waited, or you could have stopped him, but no, and now, now, his name is added to a whole bunch of other names. James, and Sarah, and mine."

"Yours?" he asked looking at him.

Elmer said nothing, but looked back into the horizon. Sammy walked back, but then turned right around.

"Here's some bacon, the only ones we have here," Sammy told him as he handed it to him.

Elmer took it slowly. "Thanks kid," he told him as he rubbed Sammy's hair.

Sammy walked away. I'm now the only one who understands, I can be a friend to him.

"YAAAAAAWN!" Mike said loudly. "Good MORNING! Rise and shine, TAAO Gang, it's time to go look for some Red Pills. Unless… you wanna take the Blue ones?"

"Don't mention the Blue Pills," Lena said. "Unless you want something bad to happen."

Everyone started getting up and pulling out breakfast. Sammy watched as they all ate and dressed tiredly. It didn't take long: after a while, Lena was demanding that they leave.

"I am demanding that we leave!"

"Alright fine," Evan said, standing up. "We need to split up into groups of two. Let's arrange! Cassie will be with me-"

"Wait," Elmer said, sticking out his hand. "We should partner up with people we do not know. Then, we can have some inter-group bonding."

"Hmm, good idea," Evan remarked. "Okay, I'll hang out with Ben."

"I'll be with Elmer," Sammy volunteered.

"I guess I'll go with Cassie?" Caleb said. "Maybe I'll survive?"

"I never talk to Marika, we'll go," Lena decided.

"I guess that leaves me with… Adisyn?" Mike said. "Geeze, I've never even said her name before."

"Veeeeery funny," Adisyn said sarcastically.

"Okay, this should be interesting," Cassie decided. "Shall we go?"

"Hold on, we don't even know what we're looking for," Lena said.

"I thought we were looking for Red Pills," Marika said confusedly.

"Right, but you can't just take any Red Pills," Lena said in an exasperated voice. "Listen, here's some empty bottle that some Red Pills used to be in." Lena pulled out several small pill bottles. "The pills look like DoTerra TriEase pills, kinda, but Red."

"Alright, Caleb and I'll stay here and watch the kids," Cassie decided.

"Oh, okay," Adisyn replied. "Shall we go?"

"Yes," Lena replied. "Let's go."

And so they all left.

* * *

Mike and Adisyn walked out of the store, and struck off down one road through the town. They never talked to one another, so they had no idea where to start, and neither did the author, as he/she sat there, wondering about what to write next. They hadn't the faintest idea, until Mike suggested that they write for the people who are writing this story to write. Adisyn told him that that was insane, and that they're real, but Mike questioned that with some confusing questions. After that it was silent for five hours as both were in deep thought.

They looked around for a bit, finding nothing.

* * *

Evan and Ben had a more interesting search. Rather than setting off down a street with all the other folks, they went across the road to a drugstore. Ben held the door, saying "Ladies first," and Evan told him that "that joke is so early two thousands."

They stepped inside: the store was split into two sections. Out front were numerous shelves were a bunch of over-the-counter pills and what-not used to be stored. Everything was scattered all over the floor, now, probably in the aftermath of a raid. The other half of the store was behind a counter, where prescription drugs were stored. The shelves over there were empty: it seemed that the prescription drugs were far more valuable in the post-apocalyptic era.

"If a bunch of secret, contraband Red Pills were stored in a drugstore," Evan said, "would they be in the prescription section, or the over-the-counter section?"

"Ummm, probably not in either of those sections," Ben replied. "If Morpheus has a brain in his head, he will have put them somewhere safe from random drug buyers."

"Drug purchasers, not buyers," Evan corrected him. "And yes, you're right. Let's search the entire place!"

Evan and Ben split up, fanning out to search the place. Evan started in the over-the-counter section, sifting through spilled medicine. Ben climbed over the counter (hehe over the counter) into the prescription section, looking for red TriEase pills.

The two Silencers tore the place apart over the course of three hours, moving slowly through every possible avenue. They even ventured into the storage unit behind the drugstore, but all that was in there was old mothball-eaten furniture.

Soon enough, they convened at the front of the store to make their decision.

"Umm, where do we go now?" Ben asked.

"Umm, where do we go now?" Evan pondered.

There was silence for a moment.

Ben started speaking. "You just said the exact same thing as m-"

"Yes."

Ben looked at Evan. Evan looked back. They started having a staring contest: it was so intense, it seemed like lasers would come shooting out of their eyes pretty soon. After a few minutes of not blinking, Ben seemed to be straining to keep his eyes open. Tears were rolling down Evan's cheek.

After twenty minutes, Ben was actually screaming. Evan was flopping around, smacking the ground, though he kept his eyes locked with Ben. This was gonna be the most extreme staring contest ever.

However, after one hour, something strange happened that caused them both to break eye contact at the exact same time: a perfect geometrical cube of matter and air simply vanished.

Evan and Ben both turned, and started blinking vigorously. Ben rubbed his eyes wildly. Evan took off the glasses that he didn't own and started cleaning them. But they both eventually ended up staring at the emptiness. It had no color, and wasn't black either. It simply was gone. The tall building that used to be planted right there was floating, it's top stories no longer connected to the ground. The side of the drugstore had been clipped off as well, and the two friends could see into the building they'd ransacked earlier. Evan stared at a bottle of pills that had seemingly been chopped in half: the pills were still balanced perfectly inside the half that was remaining. It was like nothing had changed: some stuff was just not there.

"[censored (echo) (echo) (echo)]...," Evan said wisely.

"Wh4t th3 4ctu4l [c3n50r3d] h4pp3n3d?" Ben asked.

"Ummm, er, quantum folding?" Evan asked. "Could've been quantum folding. Lena would…. Umm… probably know."

"I'm very concerned," Ben said. "What if quantum folding happened right where we're standing?"

"Well, here's one thing I know," Evan said. "We wouldn't die, per say. Our cells wouldn't die, they'd just cease to exist. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't even know it happened."

"We need to get out of this place," Ben said. "We-need-out. NO MORE WASTING TIME! If I'm gonna get trapped in a QUANTUM FOLD, then, IDK!"

"WAIT!" Evan said. "I think I know what's happening!"  
"What? What?" Ben asked hurriedly.

"The Matrix is coming down," Evan said. "It's been breaking this whole time. All these strange events, Lena always says that they're bugs caused by the decline of the Matrix. But we're in the endgame: the Matrix is officially breaking apart. And when it does, all of it's energy will spill over into the real world."

"The energy will spill over…." Ben said. "Didn't it already do that? I thought Lena said it did."

"Only a little bit," Evan replied. "More energy shouldn't make a difference. Don't ask me to explain it, I'm just repeating what Lena said. The Matrix will die, and somehow or other, it's energy will merge with the Real World's."

"The energy will," Ben said. "But what about the matter?"

"Destroyed," Evan said. "Gone. No coming back."

Ben gulped. "Then we need to hurry."

* * *

Lena and Marika headed up the road towards the outskirts of town.

"Morpheus said that there was, like, a stash or something," Lena said. "A place where they kept emergency Red Pills. It's gotta be somewhere no one would think of checking out…."

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" Marika piped up. "When we were on the hill, I saw a little shed in the middle of a garden. NO ONE would think of looking there."

"Marika, sheds belong in gardens," Lena replied flatly.

"O ya, forgot about that," Marika said. "Um, they'd probably be in a really inconspicuous house…."

"Probably correct, and I doubt that it would be in any house anyone would think of stealing from," Lena speculated.

"Hmmm, do you know of any apartment places nearby?" Marika asked.

"Not at the moment, but I'm sure we could find one," Lena stated.

"Alright, then, let's go looking."

Marika and Lena kept walking along, keeping their eyes open for any apartment areas. That's when they came across Alta Vista apartments.

"This place looks good," Lena said, pointing at it. Alta Vista wasn't your standard apartment building: it was a collection of small dwellings laid out near one another. There were about six of them left standing: the rest had been crushed by some unknown phenomenon. Probably flooding from the nearby river.

"Hmmm," Marika said, trying to decide which one to check out first. "Start on the left, and go right?"

Lena wasn't listening, however. She had noticed something odd. Transfixed, she walked towards the door, putting her hands on the address.

"Lena, what are you doing?" Marika asked.

"Apartment 3, 1001 Pecan Valley Drive," Lena said, turning to Marika. "I know that address. Morpheus told me about it, once. He used to live at that address. Back when the Matrix still had him."

"That's interesting, funny you never mentioned it before," Marika replied.

"Never thought it was important," Lena said. "But, this would totally have been the place he would've kept them."

"Let's check it out, then," Marika decided. She pushed the door gently, and it fell over. The brittle hinges had snapped.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff….." Marika started.

"D0N'T s4y th4t n0tty n4st3 n4rl3 n0-n0 w0rd!" Lena interrupted.

"Why, you say it all the time!" Marika replied.

"Umm, I dunno, let's just go in now!" Lena commanded, leading the way into the place.

The light from the door opening had sent many creatures scuttling away: Marika could see a few roaches crawling into a wall. She looked around the room. It was simply built: one small room led to another room with a door between them. The first room was half-carpet, half-tile. On the carpeted half was a couch, and a bunch of wires where a TV used to be hung. The tiles on the other half of the room were stained, and an old oven and stove were parked over there. It looked like the place had been uninhabited since long before the Arrival.

"Man," Marika said. "You would've thought that after Morpheus left, they would've rented this place out again."

"It is kind of odd that it's so unmaintained, even by the alien apocalypse's standards," Lena replied. "I'm guessing that Morpheus kept renting this place out, as well as many other apartments, in order to have places to stash red pills. It would've been easy to pay the rent: he could've just created money."

"That would explain all the inflation," Marika muttered.

"What do you think is on the other side of that door?" Lena mused.

"A bedroom," Marika snapped. "Probably a bathroom, too."

Lena carefully moved the door out of the way, stepping into Morpheus's old bedroom.

There was an old, moth-eaten queen bed, with a rotting bedstead next to it. A door led into what obviously used to be a bathroom. The carpet had been stripped off in places, probably by looters.

"Probably by looters," Marika said, gesturing to the stripped-up carpet.

"If looters came through here, I doubt there would be any pills left, let alone red pills," Lena said skeptically. "There're enough junkies in the world…"

"We should check anyways," Marika said hopefully. "Just in case."

The two associates started combing the room. Marika peeled back the rest of the rotting carpet with ease, exposing the old floorboards. She started checking under them. Meanwhile, Lena slid the bed to the other side of the room, and started ripping off the carpet underneath of it.

That's when she found a trapdoor, with the label SPECIAL MEDICATION.

"Marika! I struck gold!" Lena declared. Marika jogged over.

"Ooh! Special medication!" Marika said. "Wonder what's in there!"

Lena pried it open, to reveal a two-by-two-by-two pit under the trapdoor. She immediately reached in and started tossing out empty pill cases: a half-full baby aspirin, some fish oil, two empty xanax containers… and a note.

Marika watched eagerly as Lena read the note. As Lena read it, her face slowly became more and more shocked and afraid.

"What?" Marika asked. "What does it say?"

Lena began reading.

"My favourite TAAO Gang,

We know what you are here for, and we know you are looking for the red pills. They were here seven hours ago. However, since then, we have taken them. If you ever want to get out of the Matrix alive, come to 23515 Paradise Cove. You may be able to find them there.

Sincerely,

Agent Greene,

P.S. The Deus ex Machina told me to send my regards."

Marika looked at Lena concernedly.

"What does this mean?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's the machines," Lena replied. "It's their counterstroke."

* * *

Sammy and Elmer had been walking for an hour, silently searching the streets for anywhere where the pills might've been hidden. They had just turned onto Travis Oaks Drive, when Sammy spoke up for the first time.

"Elmer?" Sammy asked.

"Yes?" Elmer replied quietly.

"What is it like?" Sammy said. "When someone you love dies, and you can't just wish it away? What does it feel like?"

Elmer thought for a moment. "It feels like a punch in the gut," Elmer replied. "Like, not an emotional punch. You actually feel like you've been punched. It's the most horrible feeling, like…. Like you'll never be happy again."

Sammy nodded quietly. He was silent for a moment, as was Elmer.

"When my mommy died, I didn't truly know what happened, I guess," Sammy said. "I didn't feel any punch."

"You were younger," Elmer said. "I don't think you really knew what death was then. I don't think you really know right now."

"I've killed," Sammy said.

"Yes, but in self-defense," Elmer replied. "The Others aren't like you. They killed just because we were here, because we got in the way. They're not honorable. They're worth just as much as dirt."

"What about the Other at the mysterious rock?" Sammy asked. "He saved our lives, and now he's going to save them again in an alternate timeline. And what about Evan? He's an Other."

"Evan's not really an Other," Elmer replied. "And the Other at the mysterious rock… I don't know about him. There's something he isn't telling us."

"He isn't telling us why they killed my parents," Sammy said. Suddenly, he started getting angry. Sammy screamed, kicking a burned-out chevrolet in frustration with the aliens who took his family, his childhood, his entire life…. He kept screaming, beating out his anger on everything within sight, until Elmer took him in his arms, and allowed him to cry on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's okay, it's okay," Elmer said comfortingly. "I'm mad, too. We're all mad. But we can keep fighting till the end, because the Others can't leave the Matrix."

"I DON'T CARE! I WANNA KILL THEM!" Sammy declared, furiously sobbing, as his tears ran down Elmer's back. Elmer kept hugging him: they remained in that position, for a few minutes, as Sammy slowly calmed down.

That's when an ear splitting blast of sound rended the air: Elmer jumped up at the sound of the gunshot, instinctively drawing his six-shooter. Sammy clumsily pulled out his Beretta.

"What the-" Elmer said, glancing around wildly.

"It came from this way, c'mon!" Sammy said, running down the road toward the source of the sound. Elmer took off after him.

They rounded the bend, running towards a large gate. Behind the gate was a mansion, and from the mansion came the sound of another gunshot.

As Sammy and Elmer burst through the gate, they failed to notice the sign swinging behind them: 23515 Paradise Cove.

* * *

Cassie and Caleb, the two C's, were sitting around the Game Store. Cassie had just put the babies down to nap in the back room: Caleb was sitting in an office chair and reading through the store clerk's log, starting at the date of the Arrival.

For the first ten days after the Arrival, purchases had been high. They'd skyrocketed around the time of the First Wave: no one could play video games, so they'd have to buy board games and stuff. However, customers became non-existent as soon as the Second Wave struck (Marble Falls was on a river, so….). The clerk also recorded a few looters around the time of the Third Wave. After around twelve weeks of the Third Wave, the clerk apparently left the store.

Cassie walked over to Caleb, seeing him reading.

"Whatcha reading?" she asked.

"Store clerk's log," Caleb replied. "It's pretty interesting to see human shopping patterns during the phases of a four-stage apocalypse."

"I found some interesting stuff, as well," Cassie remarked, revealing a photo. Caleb walked over: it depicted a middle-aged but still handsome man. He was African American, with dark, curly hair cut close to his scalp. He stood next to his wife, a plain sort of woman wearing a blue dress and a white apron. There were also two kids standing in front of him: a teenaged girl with darker skin and hair, and a pale and sickly-looking blonde boy carrying a toy firetruck. On the back were words: The Valerns Family, 2011.

Caleb took the picture in his hand and looked at it for a few minutes.

"This family… gone," he said bitterly. "Your family, gone. My family, gone. Every family in the world…. Gone. All because of them. Those monsters we call the Others, as if there were any kind creatures other than humans. And we humans- sitting here, hoping to find another civilization. And when the aliens showed up, they all went nuts. The Others aren't another civilization. They're barbarians, and now, there are no more families."

"You're right," Cassie said. "You're right about everything, except for the family thing. There's still at least one more family: the TAAO Family. We're family. I might as well change my last name to Taao. Cassie Taao, how's that sound?"

Caleb and Cassie laughed a bit.

"What does TAAO even stand for?" Caleb asked.

"I don't think we ever decided what it stands for," Cassie replied. "Lena just came up with the acronym randomly, and since then, we've been using it….."

"We should pick out something for it to stand for!" Caleb suggested. "How about…. The Amazing Awesome Orphans!"

"That would be extremely accurate, but it's also a little macabre," Cassie replied. "What about…. Time Alternate Avenue Octagon!"

"..." said Caleb. "Why….. I'm not questioning it. How about….. Thanos Ate All Oranges!"

"No, it'd be more accurate if you said Thanos Ate Half Oranges," Cassie replied. "And that'd be TAHO. Taho."

"Oh, right," Caleb replied, face-palming.

"How about…." Cassie started.

The door banged open, to reveal Marika holding her M16.

"Marika!" Cassie yelled.

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked. "Did you find the pills?"

"No," Marika replied. "We found this!"

She pulled out a small piece of paper, and held it up for Cassie and Caleb. The two C's read it quickly and thoroughly.

"Agents?" Cassie asked. "Like the people who killed Lizbeth?"

"Lizbeth? Who dat?" Caleb asked.

"She was my best friend, before she was shot in the back of the head," Cassie replied. "Remember, I told you about her a few years ago when we exchanged stories on the road?"

"Oh YEAH!" Caleb said. "Your friend, who's dead now. Because of the agents…."

"YEEeesSeSEES!" Marika exclaimed. "But the machines have sent agents into Marble Falls. They've taken the Red Pills to 23515 Paradise Cove, wherever the crap that is. We need all hands on deck to take them out and get the pills."

"But what about the babies?" Cassie asked. "We can't take them, and we also can't just leave them here!"

"Caleb should come with us," Marika decided, "and you can stay here."

"UNACCEPTABLE!" Cassie declared. "I wanna go kill some agents!"  
There was silence for a moment.

"Caleb, how do you feel about killing agents?" Marika asked.

"I mean, sure, I guess…" Caleb started.

"I like Cassie's enthusiasm," Marika interrupted. "Caleb, you stay here and watch the babies, and Cassie's gonna go whoop some agent [censored]."

"WOOHOO!" Cassie said. "Lemme get my gun, I'll be right with you."

She dashed over to the sleeping area, and came back carrying her M4 and several clips of ammo. For a grown woman, sometimes Cassie would still act like he was in middle school.

"I'm ready!" she said. "Let's go!"

"Uh, alright," Marika stated. "Caleb, whatever you do, make sure nothing horrible happens to these babies."

"Daddy Caleb is on duty!" Caleb said, saluting.

"Can we go now?" Cassie asked.

"YES!" Marika virtually shouted. They both ran out of the store, leaving Caleb alone with the kids.

* * *

Adisyn and Mike had just finished ransacking the third drugstore in a row, when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Hold on, it might be a Silencer," Mike whispered, raising his M16. "Take cover in that building, I'll handle him."

"Alright," Adisyn replied, running into a former McDonald's.

Mike swung his weapon back and forth, keeping his ears open for the sounds of the enemy. All he could hear at the moment was the sounds of birds chirping, squirrels rustling around in the trees….

"MIKE!" Lena yelled, popping up right behind him. Mike screamed like a little girl, spraying his entire clip into an apartment building across the road from him.

"Lena, [censored], [censored], don't [censored]ing do that, you gave me a fright that will not be matched for seventeen years!" Mike exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to," Lena said apologetically.

"That's alright," Mike replied. "What happened?"

"We didn't find any red pills," Lena said. "But someone else did."

"Who?" Mike asked, clearly curious. "A Silencer?"

"No," Lena said. She told him about everything they had found in Morpheus's old apartment.

"No way!" Mike said. "Agents? Here?"  
"Yes," Lena said. "At 23515 Paradise Cove. By the way, where's Adisyn?"

"Hiding in that McDonald's," Mike replied. "ADISYN! YOU CAN COME OUT, IT WAS JUST LENA!"

Adisyn stumbled out the door of the restaurant. "Oh, hi Lena," she said. "You gave us quite a fright!"

"Yes, Mike told me," Lena replied mischievously.

"VEEERY funny," Mike said sarcastically. "So, fill her in."

"There are people who have the red pills who we don't want to have the red pills hiding at 23515 Paradise Cove," Lena said.

"Wait…." Adisyn said. "23515 Paradise Cove? That's a big waterfront mansion, people from around town used to come admire it a lot!"

"Why would the agents be hiding in a waterfront mansion?" Lena wondered.

"Maybe they think it's comfortable!" Mike suggested.

"No," Lena mused. "I think they have some other plan, something to do with the location they selected."

"I dunno what that could be," Adisyn scoffed. "The only thing unique about 23515 is that it's a mansion."  
"Yes… exactly," Lena said. "But the agents would want somewhere small, so they could kill us off more quickly. I'm telling you, they know something we don't know."

"I don't know what that could be," Mike said. "What I DO know is that we need to get to 23515 quickly, before the Matrix crashes and we all die."

"What makes you think it's gonna crash so soon?" Lena asked.

"Because of that," Mike replied, pointing. Lena and Adisyn turned, to see a large cube of invisible emptiness right where Adisyn's McDonald's had just been standing. The emptiness seemed to disobey all laws of physics, clipping through trees and rocks and other buildings, but not disturbing any of the environment outside of itself.

The three friends gazed at the cube, transfixed.

"The [censored].…." Adisyn said.

"Lena, explain this," Mike said. "Is the Matrix crashing, or what?"

Lena nodded. "Yep, definitely not something that should be happening. I'd say we have about four hours until this place completely ceases to exist."

"So, we need to get those red pills, or we're all gonna die!" Mike exclaimed. "C'mon, let's get moving!"

"Right, let's go!" Lena confirmed. The three associates ran to find the nearest map and get to 23515 as fast as possible.

* * *

Sammy dashed through the gates of the mysterious place where the gunshot had come from. He ran down a forest path, stopping when he reached a building. He stood, looking ahead at the place before him.

There were two large, paved paths, leading around a big central statue. Surrounded by bushes and plants, the area had evidently one been beautiful, but was now unkempt and trashed. The two sidewalks led up to a giant mansion: the front used to be a joyful cream colour, but were now water-stained and falling apart in places. The windows had been blown out, leaving only a small, glass rim where picture windows used to be. The remains of two trees were tossed aside. Additionally, there were two pillars broken to the point of collapse, and an eroded wall of stone.

Elmer caught up with Sammy, slowing down and panting.

"Why would you run off like that?" Elmer asked. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"  
"Because I wanted to know where the shots were coming from," Sammy replied. He started walking towards the door, Beretta in hand. Elmer followed after him. Before the door opened, Elmer told him.

"Wait, take this, you may need it," he told Sammy as he gave him a knife. "It's a First Blood Survival Knife, the real thing."

"What's First Blood?"

"Never mind, but you may need it."

The nine-year-old kid pushed open the rotting wooden doors, stepping into an immense room. Pillars lined the sides, and several old moth-eaten couches were scattered around the place. A massive fireplace stood imposingly before the two comrades (they be comrades, whatcha gonna do?).

After the urgency of the last few minutes, it seemed too quiet.

"After the urgency of the last few minutes, it seems too quiet," Elmer remarked, quoting somebody.

"I agree…." Sammy said cautiously. "But we need to find out what that gunshot was!"

"It was a gunshot, obviously," Elmer said. "But I agree- if there is a Silencer, it needs to get removed."

The two pals climbed some split-level stairs to a second living room (apparently, mansions need two living rooms separated by a split-level. I only have one living room. Sad). They approached a spiral staircase, and started climbing.

At the top of the stairs was a THIRD living room. A third [censored]ing living room. There were two couches up against a wall, facing a busted-out TV.

But the couches and the TV were not the things that caught Sammy's eye. It was the man, laying slumped against the wall, blood leaking out of a stomach wound…. And carrying a sniper rifle.

Sammy immediately raised his Beretta, at the same time that the wounded Silencer raised his rifle.

"Wait!" the Silencer said, coughing up some blood. "Don't shoot! Don't…. Shoot…."

"Why shouldn't I?" Sammy asked. "I know you're one of them. I know that you're one of the ones who killed my family!"

"No, I didn't do it!" the Silencer exclaimed, dropping the rifle. "You need to run, they're here, they're hunting you…"

"Drop the facade!" Sammy shouted. "We know who you are, and know, you're gonna get what you deserve!"  
His finger moved to the trigger. The Silencer rocked backwards, covering his face with his hands. But just as Sammy was about to fire, Elmer jumped forward, smacking the gun out of his hand.

"Sammy! Wait!" he commanded.

"What? Why?" Sammy asked, clearly shocked. Was this not the man who, just a few minutes ago, was raving about how all Others need to die?

"This guy didn't shoot himself with that sniper," Elmer said, walking over. "This entry wound is too small to be made by a bullet of this caliber. There's someone else here…. Someone who would use a Desert Eagle."

"Thank you for noticing, Mr. Gates," a voice said from behind them. Sammy and Elmer's heads whipped around, to see someone else standing behind them.

Clad in a black suit and dress pants, with a red and white tie and spectacles, an aging yet robust man stood, hands at his side, calmly staring. His hair was snow white, and slightly receding, yet his facial expression was as hard and deadly as any face Elmer had ever seen.

"Who…. who the [censored] are you?" Elmer asked.

"Thank you for asking," the old man replied, in an aristocratic and well-mannered tone. "I am Alastair Greene. I was born in a Machine City programming facility. My parents are R-273C and F-273C. I was created to be the answer to a rogue program known as Smith, though he was destroyed by The Sixth One before I was ready for deployment. Now, however, I have been sent for a new mission- the destruction of the TAAO Gang."

"You're one of those guys," Sammy said. "You're an Agent."

"You are quite right, young man," Greene confirmed.

"Wait… let's back this up a bit," Elmer said. "You're here to destroy the TAAO Gang, correct?"

"Yes, and I believe I have effective bait to lure them in with," Greene replied. He reached into his blazer, pulling out a pill bottle. The label said it was for xanax, but inside, Elmer could see numerous little red pills packed tightly together.

"Yes, yes, your friends will walk in here to see your bodies littering the floor, and the only red pills for a hundred miles in my hands," Greene stated, slowly walking towards Sammy and Elmer. Elmer started pushing Sammy back, but soon enough they were up against a wall.

"I see you've backed yourselves into quite a corner," Greene quipped. "Pardon my little joke."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a large pistol.

Elmer reacted fast, tackling Sammy onto the ground. The bullet from the Agent's gun sailed overhead, blowing a hole in the wall. Elmer fired his revolver at Greene, blowing an entire canister, but the Agent moved in a blur, and none of the bullets touched him.

Greene started sprinting towards them: Elmer sprinted back, yelling a battle cry. But as the two fighters were about to collide, Elmer seemed to smack into an invisible wall, stumbling backwards. Uninhibited, the Agent ran forward, tackling Elmer to the ground. His hand locked around Elmer's throat, tightening like an iron clamp.

Elmer kicked wildly, his face going pale, his hands immediately trying to pry off Greene's hands. Greene's other hand pressed down on Elmer's chest, forcing the air out of his lungs and into his throat. Elmer's eyes started bulging, all the muscles in his body flexing at once. Greene smiled as the bones in Elmer's neck started to strain….

Then, a foot connected to a nine-year old boy caught Greene full in the face. The Agent didn't flinch, and yet, he let go of Elmer.

"I don't sweat you!" Sammy taunted him with fists in the air. The agent didn't care, though. He grabbed Sammy's face and sucker punched him in the face. Sammy fell down on the floor and was out cold, with his nose bleeding.

"Crap," Elmer exclaimed quietly from behind a ledge.

"Where are you?" Greene asked politely.

Elmer didn't say anything: he needed to keep hiding. But the boy his brother had died to save was right where the Agent could get him. Elmer could hear Greene coming now: he was walking around the corner, cocking the Desert Eagle. Elmer raised his two six-shooters, and as the tall form of Greene rounded the corner, Elmer fired rapidly into the Agent's chest.

Surprised and unable to react fast enough, Greene staggered under a hail of bullets. He coughed, and a chunk of green liquid landed on the floor.

Elmer stood up, kicking towards his foe with maximum force. Greene was knocked off of his feet, skidding along the ground. Elmer kept up the brutal attack, running over and kicking the Agent in the chest.

But Greene surged to his feet, and as he stood up, Elmer felt a surge of energy pass through the air. It washed over his body; it was painless, and it almost made him feel powerful. Elmer felt weightless, as his feet left the ground, and he sailed towards the ceiling.

Slowly, everything became more distorted, ruddy, and indistinct, until everything seemed to fade…. Fade…. Fade…

* * *

Cassie and Marika, armed to the teeth, were walking down a forest path. They had just passed through the gate labeled 23515, Paradise Cove. Trees were all around them, guarding them from the torrential rain and the rapidly strengthening wind.

Cassie's ears were open for any sound: Marika's eyes swept the forest around them. Without the normal TAAO Gang banter, it was quiet. After a few moments, they arrived in front of a large mansion. Two paths wrapped around a large, formerly beautiful statue, leading up to an impressive house front.

"Perhaps we should wait here for the other TAAOers to catch up with us," Marika said.

"Yeah, we probably should," Cassie replied. "If there's an Agent in there, we probably want backup."

Marika sat down on a tree stump, rifle in hand. Cassie sat next to her, and sighed as she waited for everyone else.

* * *

Evan and Ben had just sprinted back to the Hood's Cards and Games, in search of Lena. They blasted through the door, stumbling in, to find Caleb playing Solitaire.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he asked, before seeing the horrified looks on Evan and Ben's faces. "You look like you've both seen ghosts!"

"I wish it were so," Evan said gravely, sitting on the ground. "The Matrix is crashing. We don't have any time to waste."

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

"What do you mean, what do you mean?" Ben virtually shouted. "All anyone asks in 'What do you mean?' It's obvious! We're all gonna die unless we find red pills!"

"Yes, that's what we knew this whole time…" Caleb said.

"We need you to help us find red pills," Evan said. "Or we're on the way out."

"Sorry man, I can't," Caleb said. "I'm watching the babies."

"Where's Cassie?" Evan asked.

"She went with Marika to 23515 Paradise Cove," Caleb replied.

"235…. Why?" Evan asked again.

"Something about an Agent, who took the red pills, I didn't really understand it either," Caleb answered.

"Oh no," Evan said. "OH NO!"

"What? What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"An Agent took the red pills!" Evan exclaimed. "If an Agent takes the red pills… the entire world comes to an end!"  
"..." said everyone else.

"OH!" Caleb said, realizing what Evan meant. "No, the Agent didn't consume the red pills. He came into possession of the red pills. Get it? He took them."

"Thank God!" Evan exclaimed.

"Well then…." Ben said. "Does this mean we need to go to Paradise Cove?"

"I guess," Evan said, hefting his sniper rifle. "Caleb, come with us!"  
"No, I must protekkkkkk all the children," Caleb replied. "It is my foremost duty."

"How are the kids, anyways?" Ben asked.

"No time to worry about our children," Evan declared. "We need to get moving!"

(It was at this moment that the author(s) of TAAO realized that every scene in TAAO ends with "We need to get moving!" or "Let's go!". It seems that the entire storyline of TAAO revolves around people trying to get somewhere, then having a bossfight once they get there. Hmmm. Is big interested).

* * *

A strange, ringing noise filled his ears. The entire world around him was blank, blurry, fuzzy, and blown out of proportion. His left arm was numb. Something was shaking him, speaking in a muffled voice.

"Elmer….. Elmer….. Wake up….."

Elmer surged upwards with a gasp. He was sitting in the center of a hallway; it faced down one way towards a bedroom, the other way leading to a stairwell. He was laying on the moulding carpet, and Sammy was kneeling next to him.

"What- how- where am I?" he asked frantically. "Where's Greene?"

"I don't know!" Sammy exclaimed in a frightened voice. "I woke up, laying here next to you. I don't know how we got here!"  
"I don't either," Elmer replied, standing up. "All I know is, if he didn't kill us back there, he has plans for us."

"Elmer, you're arm!" Sammy exclaimed.

Elmer looked down at his left arm, which was still numb. The bionical attachment, which was normally alive with sparking electricity, was dead. It hung uselessly by his side, and Elmer felt the same feeling he had for nine years when he was missing an arm.

"Well, [censored]," Elmer said quietly. "Whatever Greene did to me, it killed my arm."

"Indeed it did," a familiar voice said. "For a time."

Greene stepped into the hallway in front of him: Elmer went to grab his revolver, before realizing that he didn't have it on him.

"What's your aim, Greene?" Elmer asked. "You said that your purpose was to destroy the TAAO Gang. That's us. Why didn't you just kill us back there?"

"Because I'd rather watch you be consumed, with the rest of the Matrix," Greene replied. "You see, in forty-five minutes, the space that you are standing will deload. In other words, it will be cut out of the Matrix, along with both of you."

"Oh yeah?" Sammy said aggressively. "I can just back up out of here right now!"

He started running down the hall. But as soon as he reached the end, he hit an invisible wall, falling on his back.

"Our friends will help us," Elmer said. "They'll get around you! You can't be everywhere at once!"  
"You're absolutely right," Greene replied. "But we can."

Two Agents stepped out from adjacent halls, standing next to Greene. One of them was a handsome blonde gentleman, and the other looked suspiciously like Michael Scott.

"These are Agent Smithey and Agent Jonesey," Greene said. "They will help me round up your friends, and bring them here, to be destroyed with you."

And with that, the three agents vanished.

Immediately, Elmer began trying to find a way out. He ran down both directions, finding solid walls. He kicked through the rotten wall, but only hit an invisible wall on the other side. He tried blasting through the invisible wall with his shoulder, but that failed as well. Eventually, he sat down, exhausted.

"I have a hunch," Elmer said. "The only way to escape is to kill Greene."

"But we can't kill him, we're trapped!" Sammy exclaimed, clearly distressed.

"I know," Elmer replied. "We just need to hope our friends get here in time."

* * *

"Hey! Cassie! Marika!" a voice yelled, echoing down the trail.

Cassie looked around to see Lena, Mike, and Adisyn heading towards them, all carrying rifles and things.

"Hey guys!" Marika said cheerfully. "What's new?"

"The Matrix is falling apart," Lena declared, sitting down on the ground near them. "There's no time to wait for the others, we need to get those pills ASAP."

"By the way," Adisyn said, "where's Caleb?"

"He stayed behind to watch the babies," Marika answered. "And what to you mean, falling apart? Hasn't it been falling apart for a while now?"

"No, this is something new," Ben's voice said. Everyone turned to see Ben walking over, accompanied by Evan.

"Wow, we all got here at the same time, and didn't notice each other coming up," Mike remarked. "Strange."

"No, we didn't all get here at the same time," Cassie said. "Elmer and Sammy aren't here yet."

"Yes, but there's no time to wait for them," Lena interrupted. "We need to get in there before this whole universe vanishes."

"What do you mean, vanishes?" Marika asked nervously.

"Mike, Adisyn, and I saw a McDonald's randomly clip out of existence," Lena replied. "I equated what we had witnessed to the Thermial Phenomenon, a theoretical concept discovered by Professor Thermial about three months after the death of Neo. It describes a situation where an artificial world, such as the Matrix, is severely altered or damaged in some way (i.e., the loss of power and subsequent destruction of the entire system that this world was coded for). In this scenario, the mediator of the artificial world (in this case, the Machine City reactor), doesn't know how to respond. Instead of trying to run a faulty world, the mediator will collapse itself, and the world will slowly peter out. The petering we witnessed was present in the form of small Matrix bugs. Now, however, the Thermial Phenomenon has reached it's final stage: total collapse. The Matrix is going to destroy itself, and some of it's energy will spill out into the Real World. At that point, people who are extremely accustomed to using a specific set of abilities within the Matrix will be able to use them in the Real World, though people who've only dipped into the Matrix and used abilities for a short period of time will not have the levels of power needed to manipulate diluted levels of Matrix energy."

There was silence for a moment…. Actually, several moments.

"And where did you learn all this?" Mike asked.

"If you LISTENED to the teachers in our Simulation Theory class in the Real World, you might remember the Thermial Phenomenon," Lena said patronizingly.

"YOU sound like Hermione Granger," Mike replied. Lena shrugged.

"Stop this nonsense," Evan said. "We need to get in there, and get the pills."

"Wait, wait, wait," Ben protested. "We can't just go in an take on an Agent whatsit without some serious firepower."

"Don't worry, I am willing to provide," Mike said, slinging a massive duffel bag that no one noticed before off of his back. "We strike them with the RPG," he said, taking an RPG out of his bag. "Then, we strike them with the M60…"

"How long….. Have you had all this?" Cassie asked, breathlessly staring at the M60.

"The past four days," Mike replied. "Now let me finish."

"Okay," Cassie said.

"Finally," Mike continued, "we introduce him to the ultimate damage output, [censored] everything up machine."

"What is it?" Evan asked, awestruck.

"The Atchisson Assault Shotgun," Mike said impressively, pulling a lethal-looking firearm out of the bag, "also known as the AA-12."

"Wow!" Ben gushed. "Where did you get that?"

"I have my places," Mike said importantly. "Now, who wants the RPG?"

No one raised their hands.

"Why does no one want the RPG?" Mike asked.

"Because we all want the AA-12," Marika replied.

"OH no," Mike said. "That one's mine."

"Fine," Ben said. "I'll take the RPG."

Mike tossed him the missile launcher casually: Ben caught it, before he was knocked to the floor by it's weight.

"Who wants the M60?"

Cassie volunteered, and Mike gave her the gun, as well as several belts of ammunition.

"What!" Ben protested. "Why does SHE get multiple ammo containers, and I only get one shot?"

"I could only find one rocket for the RPG," Mike replied. "Besides, you still have your M16, for a secondary."

"Big comfort," Ben said sarcastically.

"We need to go in, now," Lena urged.

"Fine!" Evan said.

"Wait, one more thing," Mike interrupted. "Evan, I found you a thermal scope!"

He tossed it to Evan, who slid it onto his sniper.

"Gee, thanks!" he said. "This thing's great!"

"Do Agents show up on heat signatures?" Adisyn asked.

"Well, they fight and stuff by taking over different bodies," Lena answered, "so yes."

"Alright, let's get a move on!" Mike commanded.

* * *

Evan had positioned himself in a tree, and was keeping his eyes on the house from a distance, with the aid of his new thermal scope. Everyone else was positioned below him, waiting for his verdict.

"Alright, we've got a lot of heat up here," Evan said. He was looking into the house now.

"Two heat signatures on the second floor. One of them is a bit smaller. We've also got a low-intensity heat signature towards the west side of the house."

"Anything else?" Lena asked.

"Yes," Evan replied. "There's a signature near the front door, and two more on the second floor. The two on the second floor are moving around."

"Alright, what do you recommend we do?" asked Adisyn.

"Get within range of the heat signature near the door," Evan ordered. "Lure him out of hiding, and I can take him out from a distance."

"Alright, then what?" asked Marika.

"Figure it out when you get up there," Evan replied. "I won't be able to keep in contact with you from a distance, so you're gonna have to figure the rest of this out on your own. I'll cover you from a distance."

"Okay," Adisyn replied. "Everyone, form up!"  
The TAAO Gang headed up the path, towards the front door. They split off into two groups, walking around the central statue, and stopping behind some cover.

Evan turned off the thermal setting, looking through the scope normally. He saw Cassie fitting her M60 with one of the belts, while everyone else readied themselves for battle. The door was blocked from his line of sight by the large statue: he began maneuvering himself to get a better shot.

Ben, RPG slung across his back, M16 in hand, stepped forward towards the door tentatively. He knocked, and soon enough, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Get back, get back, get back," Mike said frantically, motioning for everyone to fall back towards the statue. They all started moving backwards.

The door opened slowly, carefully… it revealed an older man, tall and intimidating, holding a Desert Eagle in one hand.

"Ah, yes," he said. "TAAO Gang, I've been expecting you."

"Of course you have, every villain ever made HAS to say 'I've been expecting you' at some point," Mike pointed out.

"Straight to the point as always, Michael French," the Agent said.

"Who are you?" Lena asked.

"Agent Alastair Greene," the Agent replied.

"Agent Greene, huh?" Cassie asked. "You wouldn't happen to have any red pills on you, do you?"

"Oh, yes, I do have red pills," Greene replied, taking a bottle out of his pocket and waving it tantalizingly. "Come and get it if you dare."

"You know what, Greene?" Ben commanded. "Man up!"

"..." said Greene.

"You and your four assistants need to learn how to face us alone!" Ben declared. "Send away your four helpers, and face us by yourself!"

"Four?" Greene asked. "I only have two helpers."

"Oh," Ben said. "Then what the [censored] are those other heat signatures?"

"Shut up, Ben!" Adisyn ordered.

"Enough of this gay banter!" Greene said (everyone who gets that reference is amazing). "Now, you must die!"

He waved his arms, and with a buzz of movement, a couple dozen guns all levitated out of the house towards the TAAO Gang. Mike looked on in horror, his AA-12 hanging at his side.

"RUN!" Ben commanded.

Everyone booked it, as the swarm of floating guns all opened fire. They weren't very accurate, but bullets were flying like mad. Cassie yelled, running through the swarm of firepower. Ben and Mike rolled under the gunfire, off around the house. Everyone else fled in some other manner, taking cover.

In the distance, Evan had just resituated himself when he saw a massive blaze of yellow light coming from in front of the house. He watched as the statue in the center was reduced to rubble by…. Hundreds of bullets!

"What the…." he said, raising his gun. Since it was pouring rain, he switched it to thermal, in order to see better. He looked through, and saw the source of all the destruction: an older man, seemingly directing several levitating guns.

He took aim, and fired at the old man.

Cassie was watching around the corner of the house: there was an earsplitting blast of noise, and Greene staggered backwards. All the floating guns dropped to the floor, and Greene spat up a chunk of green liquid.

Cassie spun around the corner, firing at him with the M60. Greene dodged and ducked, becoming a blur of movement, but he was still hit by a few of the bullets. Snarling, he retreated into the house, firing back at Cassie with his Deagle.

Another bullet from Evan shattered the glass doors. Cassie waved to everyone, who all emerged.

"Okay, that guy is not to be messed with," Adisyn decided. "If he can make guns levitate, and fire at us, and Evan isn't there to cover us, then we need a serious plan."

"We don't have time for a serious plan," Lena declared.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Lena?" Marika asked sarcastically.

"We're just gonna have to improvise!" Lena said as they all charged into the house.

"With a little RPG action!" Ben declared holding it up.

"No! Greene's damaged a lot now, we'll save that for the other two," Cassie said. The gang all charged into the house looking this way and that.

"Where'd he go?"Mike asked as he held up his arms.

"Stay sharp men, he could've gone anywhere!" Marika told them.

They were standing in a living room, and looking about. There were several pillars ringing around several couches, in front of a large fireplace. It was split-level, and there was another living room raised above it.

"Split up, we need to search this house," Mike commanded, but right at that moment, a shot came from up the stairs. A bullet ripped through the couch in front of them, and everyone dropped low.

"Where'd that come from?" Ben asked, aiming his rocket.

"Upstairs," Lena replied. "Fan out, we need to take that guy down."

Ben ran through a hallway into a room, above which were several balcony-looking things. He looked around, trying to spot his enemy.

A searing pain went through his shoulder: Ben flinched a bit, but his Silencer resilience allowed him to shrug it off. He turned towards the source of the gunshot, where he saw a blond agent holding a silenced pistol. Ben fired off his RPG before the Agent could fire another shot: the blond man jumped backwards as the balcony he was standing on exploded.

Ben watched as a massive section of the upstairs came loose from itself, falling as it lost structural integrity. With a crash and a cloud of dust, several rooms fell down, blasting apart dramatically. Ben stared at it in shock: then, he saw something else to shock him even more. Elmer and Sammy were standing there, suspended in mid air, looking around in shock.

"What- how- Elmer, Sammy?" Ben asked.

"Oh, Ben, you blew this whole thing up," Elmer said, "but these invisible walls are still here." He tapped on the wall, and it made a sound like tapping on glass.

"What the [censored]," Ben exclaimed. "How did you get stuck there?"

"Agent Greene put us in here," Sammy said. "We think that the only way for us to get out is for Greene to die."

"Then where is he?" Ben yelled up.

"I saw him run up on the other side, but he's damaged!" Elmer told him.

"We'll get em!" Lena declared.

"How?" Cassie asked, catching up as they hid under a table.

"He's injured, and the only way for him to heal is to find another host, but he can't do that unless he leaves here."

"Why would he want to stay?"

"Because to protect the red pills and make sure we never escape."

"LOOK OUT!" Mike yelled at Adi as he tackled her to the ground. The rubble hadn't finished coming down yet, and a piece fell right where she had been standing.

"What was that for!" Adi yelled at him annoyed.

"Sorry, but look!" MIke said pointing to what had just fell.

"Er, oh, well, thanks."

"Everyone listen," Ben started as he went to the middle. "We can't stay here for long."

"So?" Lena asked.

"There's only one thing do do…. CHARGE!" Ben yelled as he ran upstairs. No one followed him.

"Ben, what're you doing?" Sammy asked.

"Going to kill Greene, so you can get free," Ben replied. He charged up and reached the front, when suddenly, from the side, a bullet penetrated his right side.

"AH!" he exclaimed as he fell down, dropping his M16.

"BEN!" Elmer exclaimed. Ben layed on the ground, clutching his right side, wincing in pain. Standing there to watch, who had fired the bullet, was Greene, Desert Eagle pointed right at him.

"You are weak!" Greene told him gun still pointing.

"We're coming, Ben!" Marika said.

"Adisyn, Ben's been shot!" Cassie cried.

"Alright, I'm coming!" she replied and started sprinting.

"No, wait, stay there!"

"But…."

"STAY!" Ben quickly stopped, and then climbed back down.

"Not another step…. or I shoot him now!" Greene declared, gun still pointed.

"Now what?" Marika asked as she halted at the top.

"Don't worry, we….we'll think of something," Lena said.

"Think of what, it's over, you can't defy us, you've all but lost!" Greene told them.

"No," Ben said quietly. Greene's eyes went to him. Silently, Ben held a grenade behind his back.

"What can do do?" Greene asked. Ben pulled the pin to the grenade.

"Re, retaliate first," he told him and he threw the grenade. It landed at Greene's feet. He tried to jump down, but Ben had the grenade without the pin, so it exploded almost instantly. The shrapnel penatrated Greene as he fell over the banister. He body loudly hit the floor. With a few seconds, there was some lighting effects, and his body turned. Laying there now, with some bloody scars, was a police officer.

"What the [censored]?" Marika asked.

"Yeah….they do that when they die, or whatever," Mike said.

"Ben!" Adi exclaimed as she ran upstairs.

"Oh [censored]!" Mike agreed as he followed her, then followed by the others. They ran up, and found him, laying face down, sputtering. He hadn't the time to face down, so some shrapnel had made its way into his body.

"God[censored]it!" Ben declared leaning over his body.

"No, we can't have a death, not now, not after all else we've made it through!" Adi said with tears.

"Wait! he's not dead yet!" Lena said.

"And?" Marika said still staring at Ben with tears in her eyes.

"I can save him, move!" she told Mike and Adi. They did, and she leaned over him, putting her hands on his chest.

"Oh yeah! Do it Lena!" Mike said. Lena closed her eyes, and thought good thoughts into her mind. Ben's bravery to save them, everything. Slowly, Ben's wounds began to decrease in size, then they were gone all together.

"He, he's healing!" Adi declared, rubbing her eyes. After a few seconds, Lena retracted, and stood back up.

"Now what?" Adi asked.

"Shh, just watch," she softly replied. Slowly, Ben opened his eyes. He then slowly got on his feet.

"What the?" Ben quietly asked as he got up.

"Oh Ben!" Marika ran over to him, gave him a hug and kissed him.

"Boy, I thought I was goner, but, but it was all worth it to save you, and our kid," Ben told her grabbing her arms.

"Never do that again you fool!" Marika said, still tearing, she gave him another hug.

"Ok, but, I thought Sammy and Elmer would be freed when Greene was stopped?" Mike asked. As if on cue, the invisible wall was gone, and Sammy and Elmer began their fall to the floor.

"Hold on!" Mike yelled as he dived down.

"To what?" Sammy asked frantically waving his arms. Mike slid across the room, and in one heroic move, he caught Sammy. Elmer though, crashed onto the floor.

"Yeah, nice catch hon!" Cassie told Mike as the all ran down.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Elmer gasped as he slowly tried to get up.

"Yeah, you ok?" Ben said as he walked over to her.

"Sammy what the [censored] happened!" Cassie demanded.

"We weakened him for you!" he replied with a smile.

"Psh, yeah right," Adi scoffed.

"We were heroic, Sammy was very brave, he helped a lot," Elmer said.

"Thanks man," Sammy said.

"Evan, get down, we're all clear," Cassie told him.

"Wait no! There's more!" Ben exclaimed.

And standing at the top of the stairway, looking down at them, was a strange-looking agent. Lena supposed he reminded her of Michael Scott: he looked the same, stood the same way, and had a similar expression on his face.

"Ha! TAAO Gang!" the agent said in a deadpan voice. "You may have defeated Greene, but you will never defeat me."

Mike casually walked up to the agent and disarmed him, throwing his gun off the stairs.

"Ha! Disarming me is not the way to defeat me. I am not totally incompetent without a gun."

Mike shot him in the stomach with his AA-12.

"Ha! Bullets. I have trained my body to be impervious-"

And he slumped on the ground, dead. His body did the same lightning effect, and then turned into a woman with blonde hair, wearing a red dress.

There were some cricket noises.

"That was anticlimactic," Marika remarked.

"Alright, well, there should be only one more of them left," Mike said.

"Wait, look, here he is!" Ben cried. The blond agent was running towards them.

Everyone raised their guns to fire in unison: Mike looked very excited to fire off his AA-12 more. The Agent got closer…. And closer…. But just as Mike was about to open fire, his weapon changed in form.

It was more wood than metal, long and slender, but ridiculously heavy. It had a complicated flintlocking system, and a rod hanging from the bottom of the barrel. He, Mike, and all the other TAAO Gang members were holding 18th century muskets.

"What?" Mike exclaimed.

"That's cheating," Ben complained.

"How do we even use this thing?" Marika asked.

"I dunno," Cassie said.

"I know one thing," Adisyn said, "and it's that we need to split like a banana!" each member of the gang took off, running in different directions.

"Are they even loaded?" Lena asked Adi as she entered the downstairs closet.

"Well, the hammer is up, so I'd guess yes," she replied.

"What hammer?" Cassie asked.  
"That one," Marika said, pointing.

"So, what do I do?" Cassie asked, rounding a corner.

"It it's already primed for firing, you just need to point and shoot," Marika replied. "But if you fire, you'll have to reload it."

"But I don't have any extra musket balls!" Cassie replied.

"Ya, so aim wisely," Marika replied.

Meanwhile, Mike and Ben had ran a different way: but they were pursued by the Agent.

Ben slide-tackled Mike to the ground as a high-caliber bullet sailed over his head, putting a hole in the wall up ahead. He rolled, and the Agent came at him, firing all the way. Ben jumped up, narrowly avoiding the bullets coming towards him.

The Agent had blown his clip: he started reloading frantically, as both Ben and Mike took aim with their muskets.

"Make it count, Mike!" Ben commanded. They both fired in unison. The Agent dodged Ben's bullet, but Mike's hit him square in the ribs.

The Agent swore, turning around with a fully reloaded cannon. Mike ran towards him, grabbing the gun, and flipping it towards the ceiling. The Agent fired his bullets into the ceiling, before kicking Mike in the stomach and sending him flying backwards. The Agent stepped forward to take him down…. Right in front of the window.

* * *

Evan wasn't within sight of the Agent, so his sniper wasn't turned into a musket. His sniper was trained on the house, tracking the progress of his friends and the Agent. As of yet, he hadn't been able to hit any of them.

The rain hadn't stopped falling, and he was drenched. The wind was blowing fiercely, threatening to shake him from the tree. What's more, Evan kept hearing peals of thunder and seeing flashes of lightning.

He kept watching the house, waiting for an Agent to step into his sights. Then, one did.

* * *

Mike and Ben watched as the Agent's head exploded into a bloody bomb. He toppled backwards, falling through a doorway, and into the upstairs that Ben had destroyed earlier. Ben ran to the door, to see the body of an overweight businessman lying dead on the floor.

"Guys, he's dead!" Ben said. Mike jogged over to him, looking over his shoulder.

"So he is," he said.

Ben watched as Cassie and Marika appeared on the lower floor, looking down at his body. He also saw Sam and Elmer watching from a hallway across the way from the destroyed area.

"Ya boi, he's dead," Adisyn said, walking up behind Elmer and Sammy with Lena.

"Great, but we have no time to celebrate," Mike said. "Look!"

He pointed, and they noticed that a large chunk of the mansion had vanished. It was in the exact same spot as where Elmer and Sammy had been imprisoned minutes before.

"We got them out just in time," Ben said in a relieved voice.

"But watch out!" Lena screamed, pointing behind them. Mike turned around, to see that the area behind him had also vanished.

"[censored]!" he yelled, shoving Ben out of the way. Ben fell from the hallway, near the Agent's body. He and Mike landed on the hard ground, and as soon as they landed, a chunk of house behind them vanished.

"Get the pills!" Mike yelled. Cassie sprinted back to the area where Greene's body was, followed by everyone else. When they reached, they noticed a chunk of reality missing, right next to Greene's body.

Mike grabbed it, pulling it away from the hole. He fished around in it's pockets, pulling out a bottle of pills. Red ones.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, turning and running out to meet everyone. Ben followed.

"We got them!" Mike cried, almost colliding with everyone else.

"Run!" Lena said. Mike turned, to see the house rapidly vanishing in front of his eyes.

"Charge!" Marika exclaimed as they all ran as fast as they could. Each member ran as fast as they could, but Sammy was falling behind. Elmer slowed down enough just so he could jump onto his back, and he continued running. Elmer was very strong, so he took over Lena and Adi.

"Ha!" he said pointing back to them. Ben looked behind him as he ran.

"What the heck is happening!" Ben yelled. Everyone looked behind each other. The mansion was gone, and now the ground was disappearing at a rapid rate.

"Keep going!" Mike yelled. Everyone was hysterical, yelling out random shouts.

"C'mon guys!"

"Run!"

"Look out"

"Yahh!"

"Build a wall!"

"GO!" the gang kept running straight on.

"How can we get to the real world, if the Matrix isn't here anymore!" Cassie said.

"Don't we just swallow some red pills?" Ben asked.

"NO! That's now how it works!" Mike yelled.

"We're gonna die!" Adi yelled as the vanishing ground was two feet behind her. Suddenly, from nowhere, a black Chevrolet suburban instantly appeared, fifty feet from where they were running.

"What the…." Sammy said.

"Run, get in the car!" Mike ordered them all as they closed in on it.

"But it won't work!" Cassie reminded them.

"It just randomly showed up, it might, we have to have faith," Lena told her. They all instantly opened the doors and jumped in as they got there.

"Quick, get in!" Elmer yelled as he chucked Sammy in the back, and then proceeded to the driver's seat.

"Hurry!" Adi said as she shut the door.

"Seat belts…." Sammy started.

"There's no time!" Ben yelled. Elmer found the keys in the mirror, put them in, and turned them.

"WORK!" Elmer demanded. The car puffed for a couple seconds and then sputtered to life.

"Hurray!" Adi cheered.

"Hit the gas!" Cassie said as she saw the ground had caught up. The car motorered down the lane, picking up fast speed.

"Mike, tell Elmer to go to Hood's, so we can pick up Caleb!" Lena told him.

"Elmer, we're going to Hood's, so we can pick up Caleb!" Mike told him.

"I know that!" Elmer told him (are you noticing this pattern?).

Suddenly, as they were driving down the road, a massive void suddenly opened in front of them.

"Elmer, watch out!" Evan told him.

"I am!" Elmer told him. He pushed the stick forward, putting the car into reverse.

Suddenly, with a BANG and a WOOSH, the TAAO Gang found themselves driving down a completely different street. All around them were tall, ornately decorated buildings, and massive skyscrapers. In the distance, Lena could see a familiar looking bridge. The entire car was in an uproar.

"Guys…" she said. "Is that London Bridge?"

"What just happened?" Ben asked.

"It's London Bridge!" Lena chimed (yeeeeeeees, it has returned! The chiming!). "We just ported!"

"Veery pe-cu-liar," Mike said in a Maxwell Smart voice.

"Elmer, put it in reverse again," Marika commanded.

"Righto!" Elmer replied, throwing the car into reverse again.

They found themselves driving underneath the Eiffel Tower, about to crash into a building…..

"REVERSE!" Ben screamed, and with a bang and a flash, they were speeding through an auditorium that looked strangely like Tiananmen Gate.

The Kremlin….. The Taj Mahal… the Lincoln Memorial….. All of these important locations flashed by the TAAO Gang, as they continued teleporting around the world.

"What is going on!" Elmer demanded.

"Hit the brake!" Sammy decided. Elmer braked, just before the car nearly slammed into the Abraham Lincoln statue.

"What a close call," Marika sighed.

"Well great what do we do now!" Elmer said flinging his arms up and slamming them on the steering wheel.

"Our kids!" Cassie wailed.

"Elmer, we have to get back!" Ben said.

"Shut up!" Elmer said.

"Yeah, he's concentrating!" Sammy included.

"You know what, I'm driving," Cassie said.

"Whatever," Elmer mumbled as he got out and switched places with her.

"Now, Lena, how do we get back to Caleb?" Mike asked.

"Well, this car just appeared, so it must have some teleporting capabilities, a side effect so that it works," Lena said.

"And?" Adi asked.

"And if we can figure out how to control it, then we can get back," Lena said.

"That'll take way too long, we don't have that kind of time," Marika panicked.

"Then, second option, Cassie continues to put the car into reverse and drive until we're back where we started," Lena said.

"It's worth a shot, I couldn't live without my kid," Marika said.

"What about me!" Sammy said.

"No, I would be sad, but I could live without…." Sammy tackled her before she could finish her sentence.

"Take it back!" he demanded as he put her in the full nelson.

"Sammy, it's already cramped in here enough!" Mike said as he tried to pull him off, but not even his strength worked. It took the entire gang to pull him off.

"Call the ASPCA!" Evan commanded, holding Sammy to keep him from attacking Marika.

"I'm driving now!" Cassie exclaimed.

"No, you aren't, we not moving," Marika said.

"I'll handle this!" Adi decided putting her finger up. She grabbed a shot out of her pocket and jabbed into Sammy's arm.

"Hey!" he yelled, then he fell on his face in the wedge of the seats.

"What was that?" Elmer asked.

"Whatever it was, it was strong," Adi replied.

"Wait, you didn't know what that was!?" Ben asked.

"No, I just hoped for the best," Adi said.

"Now, let's move on with the plan," Lena told Cassie.

"Right, I'm putting her in drive in three….two….one….GO!" Cassie put the shift in drive and hit the gas as hard as she could.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the store, Caleb was busy watching the babies, reading some magazines, being bored, but mostly just being bored. Everytime one baby would cry, or he had to change a diaper, he cursed the name of Cassie, Lena, and Marika. It started when he was simply taking a nap, but then a big shake woke him up

"What on earth?" he asked. He looked in the direction of the sleeping babies, yet that had not woke them up. "Wish I slept like them," Caleb muttered. He quickly went outside to scan the area. He walked a few yards forward and looked around.

"Huh?" he asked himself scratching his head. "No earthquake? What was that?" he turned around and then stopped cold in silence. Right in front of him was a large gaping hole, with eternal blackness below it.

"Oh my gosh!" Caleb gasped as he stood there. How on earth was he supposed to get back into the shop? He had closed the door, but there was a handle on it. He figured if he could jump, he could grab the handle and open the door. He stood there for a long time debating, until he finally decided to go for it.

He took a few steps back, and held his breath. Then he ran and jumped, leaping over the crevice. His hands just grabbed hold of the handle. Caleb's body weight caused the handle to slide down and the door to open. He then used momentum to swing the door open. He climbed inside and shut the door.

"Never again," he said as he brushed himself off. He checked everything to make sure it was ok. He went into where the babies were. Each one was nestled into their beds, not a stir among them. He checked every inch of the place to make sure there were no gaps that he might fall into.

"I hate you guys!" he yelled as he stomped his feet with so much force he knocked down a shelf.

* * *

Cassie pushed the gas and the car instantly transported….to space!

"Help!" Cassie yelled. The car was just floating in space, and they saw dear old Earth right below them. There were several large holes in the once-familiar planet.

"How did that happen?" Evan asked.

"Don't know, but these doors aren't air tight, we're losing air, and fast!" Lena declared.

"Step on it backwards!" Adi demanded. Cassie shifted the car back into reverse and the car once again teleported to a random spot, this time on Earth. The landed on Mount Everest. Which for those who don't know, is the highest point on Earth.

"Cool!" Sammy exclaimed as he jumped up and looked out the window.

"But you were knocked out!" Adi said.

"I always wake up to coolness!" Sammy replied, still staring outside. Their luck didn't last long. The wind was great, and snow powerful. The car slide right of the ledge.

"Not cool!" Sammy yelled with everyone else yelling.

"Help!" Cassie said as she put the car back in drive.

"It might not work!" Elmer said.

"It's worth a try!" Lena said. Cassie pushed her foot down on the brake, and the car left right before hitting another part of the mountain. This time, they landed in another unlucky place.

"What gives!" Cassie yelled, banging her head on the horn continually. They were surrounded by trillions of gallons of water.

"Wow, we've been so unlucky the last three times," Mike sighed.

"I told you, it was a trap!" Elmer said.

"Did not!" Evan said.

"I can't see anything," Lena said. Cassie quickly turned on the headlights.

"Just water, nothin' but lame ol' water," Cassie sighed.

"How deep are we?" Sammy asked as he admired the view.

"I can't see the sun, I'd guess pretty deep," Evan said.

"Then why aren't we getting crushed by the pressure?" Marike asked.

"It's the Matrix, this must be a bug," Ben said.

"Is water leaking a bug?" Mike asked pointing to the windows. Slowly but surely, water was seeping into the car.

"Ahhh!" Ben exclaimed.

"Hang on gang," Cassie said as she put the car into reverse.

"Oh dear," Adi said. Cassie hit the gas, but nothing happened, she tried again and again, still, nothing.

"What the [censored] you stupid thing, work!" she yelled.

"It's the water, it's clogged the engines!" Elmer said.

"How long until water completely drowns the car?" Cassie asked looking behind at Lena.

"About fifteen minutes at this rate, but we'll also sink more, maybe right into a volcano!" Lena informed.

"I have an idea," Evan declared. Everyone's eyes and ears all turned in his direction. "I'll take this small oxygen mask, go outside and…."

"No way, you'll doom us all!" Adi said shaking her head.

"Listen, I can be quick, as soon as I put this little underwater bomb in, and arm it, it will let off a spark. This will give the ignition power, getting us outta here!"

"Good idea, wait a minute though, we all need to hold our breath, so we need to get some air," Marika added.

"There's barely any now, most of it was stolen while we were in space," Lena said.

"Ok, that settles it, Cassie, keep the ignition key turned, and don't stop," Evan said as he prepared to open the door.

"Wait!" Cassie said stopping him.

"How will you get back?" Cassie asked.

"One way trip," Evan told her as he gave her a kiss.

"No, we'll find some other way, we can…."

"There is no other way, the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few," he said. "I'm sorry."

Cassie grabbed him and kissed him on the lips, tears streaming down her cheeks. Evan then opened the door and swam out.

He quickly reached the exhaust port and stuffed the bomb in there. The ignition fired, and car disappeared somewhere else.

They arrived in Bethlehem, near a stable. The car drained of water quickly.

"That was a close one!" Sammy declared.

"Poor Evan," Lena said.

"Poor Cassie," Adi said pointing, over to her. Cassie was a few feet away, on her knees, crying her eyes out.

"Give her some time," Mike said putting a shoulder on Lena.

"Let's wring these clothes out here," Sammy suggested. Everyone thought that was a good idea.

"Hand over the tuberculosis!" a person commanded as he put his hand on Cassie's shoulder. Cassie looked behind her, and standing there was Evan.

"Evan!" she exclaimed as she put her arms around him. "What happened?" she asked him.

"Before the car started, I was able to swim to the top and hold on to the top, but it was a close one," he replied.

"Evan!" Mike exclaimed pointing from his position. Everyone ran over to him, and kept asking the same question Cassie had asked.

"Let's get moving, Caleb can't have long," Marika said.

"How long exactly?" Ben asked.

"Judging by how far he was, and where the cracks were, I'd say we have about four, maybe five minutes, at most," Lena confirmed.

"Quick, everyone in, this time, I'm driving," Evan said. Everyone scrambled to get into place. Mike opened the door as everyone jumped inside.

"Go go go!" Mike ordered everyone, waving them in. Once the last person, Ben got in, Mike himself got inside, and shut the door.

"Let's rock!" Elmer said. He turned the key and hit the gas, the car teleported out, and went somewhere else.

* * *

Caleb was there in the store, just minding his own business, when it began. The cracks had finally caught up, and were now only a mile away. The eternal blackness was only a few minutes from consuming Caleb and the babies.

"What is that?" Caleb wondered as he went over to the window. At the moment, it looked only like some ripples in the ground. He went over to his bag to get a pair binoculars. He came back a moment later, put the binoculars to eyes, and saw.

"Crap!" he exclaimed jumped up and down. "Cassie you get back here this instant!" Caleb said. With that, he threw the binoculars down and jumped on them, shattering the glass and everything else.

"Why me!" he continued yelling. Suddenly, with a brilliant flash of light, the gang's car teleported right outside, and it wasn't stopping. It kept driving at a fast rate. Caleb took one look and then dived off to the left of him. The car crashed into the building, glass shattering and shelves falling. Then the car came to screeching halt. Caleb knew he had to prepare to battle, so he grabbed hold of his M16, and waited.

He began to hear voices from the car.

"What was that?" one asked.

"Hey, I don't see you driving!" the other said.

"Caleb, are you here?" another asked, this voice sounded like Sammy's.

"I'm over here guys!" Caleb said as he bounced up. "The others are also over here."

"Quick!" Cassie exclaimed. Caleb charged for the car as Cassie charged for the kids. Caleb jumped in. A minute later, Cassie handed each kid to somebody, and then got in herself.

"It's crammed!" Cassie complained. She was sharing a seat with Lena.

"Hey, you're not the only one!" Ben said.

"Go!" Elmer commanded Evan. He hit the gas in drive, and once again they were gone. This time to someplace with many houses.

"Quick, everyone out!" Evan said as he unbuckled. The gang literally jumped out of their seats and began to stretch. It was storming around them even MORE violently than it was in Marble Falls: the gang could barely stand for wind gusts buffeting them.

"Now, where are we?" Lena asked as they all finally got inside a house.

"You don't know?" Marika asked.

"Hey, I just know smarts, I'm not a human GPS ya know," she replied.

"Well, we're definitely somewhere rainy," Sammy said.

"Know, we have a limited amount of time before we're consumed by the matrix, so, I say we just swallow some red pills and…." Ben started.

"NO! IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!" Mike yelled as he began stomping around and jumping up and down. "NO NO NO!"

"Ok then, how does it work?" Marika asked.

"The pill is only part of a trace program, it helps to pinpoint everyone's location," Lena said.

"We need some kind of machine to do it, with computers and what not," Mike added.

"Yeah, but there's one problem, no power!" Cassie yelled as she went into a rage and started stomping her feet and jumping up and down.

"Yep, we're all doomed," Ben said as he sat down in a chair.

"No we're not," Lena said.

"We're not?" everyone asked at the same time.

"No, I have this!" she said excitedly as she held up what looked like a USB hard drive.

"What's that?" Elmer asked.

"This, is a power converter, able to even withstand the Other's EMP. Morpheus secretly gave it to me on his last visit," she said.

"You've had this the whole time!" Ben said.

"We could've used that so many gosh dang times!" Sammy said.

"It's only a one time use thing!" Lena told them loudly, because now the whole room was in an uproar. "He only trusted me to use it right."

"And you told no one!" Evan said.

"I didn't trust you guys not to take it and use it," Lena explained.

"Alright, fine, I don't trust Sammy either," Cassie replied.

"Then, let's go," Mike said as he grabbed out a phone. "Morpheus also gave me this, a one time use phone to call them when we were ready." He put it to his ear, and it began to ring.

"Zhantov, I need the transporter, hurry!" Mike said.

"Yes, hold on, you're lucky you called when you did, another second and I would've lost you," he replied.

"You've been tracking us?"

"Yep, not that we can do anything about it, here you go!" Zhantov said. "Good luck." suddenly the things appeared. There was chair, a table with many computer gadgets on it. As well as a mirror.

* * *

In the Real World, Zhantov was watching the monitors, following the progress of the TAAO Gang. He was watching them now as Lena distributed Red Pills among most of the members of the TAAO Gang. Evan, Mike, and Lena didn't take any, because they were already free, but Cassie, Ben, Caleb, Elmer, Sammy, Adisyn, and the three babies were all handed pills.

"Alright, guys," Lena said to them. "When you wake up, don't try to move. Morpheus and Zhantov are going to find you. Pretend to still be frozen."

"Frozen?" Ben asked in a quavery voice.

"Yes, frozen," Lena replied. "We'll see you in a little bit."

"Good luck!" Evan wished them. Cassie helped the three babies take the pills. And then everyone else took a pill.

"Now then, everyone pay attention, just don't do anything unless Mike or I say so, got it?" Everyone nodded.

"Right, Sammy, you first, so we can see if we're doing everything right here," Mike said. Sammy ran right up to the chair. Mike went over and attached some wires to him, and went back to man the computer.

"Ok, Sammy, touch that mirror next to you. Sammy did, and suddenly, silver liquid came out from it and began to cover him slowly.

"It's cold!" he complained.

"Mike, I need a signal!" Lena said.

"Hang, on, almost there," he replied.

"Hurry!"

"Lock, I got him!" Suddenly the silver liquid went into his throat, and with a matter of flashes, he was gone. The same thing went on for the rest of the gang (except for Ben: he just sat there as the liquid went into his throat. Zhantov had to mess around with a few buttons on his end before Ben vanished).

"Okay, we're gonna wake you up, now," Zhantov said urgently. "Just get ready!"

* * *

Morpheus was ready. He was standing in the room where Lena and Mike were still plugged in. They'd been asleep for the past four years, unwaking, unacting, unblinking.

Evan's Matrix chair had been brought in the room and parked next to the two of them. Morpheus had met Evan once, in the Matrix at Area 51, and he seemed like a nice guy. He had been asleep for quite some time, for about twenty-five years, actually. He had grown and matured, watched and observed by scientists who had no idea how he had got there.

That's when a call came through from Zhantov. Morpheus lifted the phone to his ear.

"Waking up now," Zhantov said. Morpheus nodded, watched and waited.

Lena woke up first, gasping, looking around wildly. Next was Mike, who surged forward, breaking the bonds that were holding him down. Evan woke up calmly, looked around, and waited for someone to extract him.

"Morpheus! God, it's been so long," Lena said. "Unstrap me!"

"Fair enough," Morpheus said, walking forward and unstrapping her. She stood up quickly, looking around.

"Welcome back!" Morpheus said, shaking hands with Evan and patting Mike on the back.

"Glad to be back," Mike said.

"Can someone let me go?" Evan asked.

"Oh, yes, sorry about that," Morpheus apologized, releasing Evan from his straps. Evan stood up, stretching and looking about.

"Never been here before," he remarked. "Seems a bit dismal."

"Well, I would stay here and show you around," Morpheus said, "but I really have to be going. Zhantov and I are heading to Machine City to find your friends."

"Alright, good luck!" Evan said.

"Find our friends!" Mike commanded.

"Find our family!" Lena amended.

* * *

Zhantov turned off the monitor, spinning around in his chair.

He was sitting in Zion's best hovercraft, the Imperturbable, in the operator's seat. He was surrounded by techs and other Zionite personnel, preparing to lift off. They were just waiting for Morpheus.

He waited calmly for a couple minutes, preparing his sniper. Soon enough, the ramp opened up, and Morpheus strode into the room, carrying an axe.

'Morpheus, how many years will it take to convince you that bullets are not cursed?" Zhantov asked in an exasperated voice.

"Push off," Morpheus commanded, ignoring Zhantov completely. Zhantov sighed as the hovercraft lurched forward, taking flight.

* * *

Cassie's eyes opened violently: she found herself laying on her back on top of a hard, cold floor. The air around her was frigid, and it seemed to bite at her skin.

She didn't try to move, following Lena's orders precisely. However, she couldn't've if she'd wanted to: there were a bunch of wires attached into her body, preventing her from moving.

She glanced around the room: it was immensely massive, probably holding billions of humans before the Others killed 99% of the population and the Matrix took out everyone else. Now, however, it was mostly empty. To her right was Ben, to her left was Caleb, and she could hear the sounds of the babies whimpering and stuff.

"Ben," she whispered, "are you awake?"

"Ya," he whispered back.

"So am I," Caleb replied. Elmer whispered something inaudible.

"Can someone get the babies to be quiet?" Cassie asked.

"I'm next to them," Marika replied. "But I can't move."

"We just need to wait," Elmer ordered. "It's the prudent thing to do."

"Fair enough," Cassie agreed. "What's Sammy up too?"

"F-f-f-f-r-r-eeee-z-z-ing t-to d-d-d-dea-ea-th," Sammy replied, clearly freezing.

"I agree," Adisyn remarked, "especially considering that most of my hair is gone."

"What?" Marika asked. It was then that Cassie noticed that her hair was gone, on her whole body.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!?" Cassie demanded. Her yell echoed around the chilly room, and an icicle fell to the ground.

"Shshshshshshshshshshhshshsshshshhshshshsshxshshshshsshhshsmmmml!" Ben commanded.

"Be calm!" Elmer commanded. "Just wait!"

* * *

The hovercraft bumped and shook wildly, gliding along through the air. Zhantov looked out the window across the desolate land, and into the sky, where he could see the green alien ship floating overhead.

It had been there for the last four years. On the first day, it sent down those androids. Since then, however, it had been sitting there, in the sky, doing nothing.

"Coming up on Machine City," one of the techs said. "It looks dark."

"What do you mean?" Zhantov asked. He jogged over to the window, looking out upon the desolate ghost town once called Machine City. The lights had all died out, and the hulking masses of dark buildings stood, barely visible, against the dark sky.

"What happened?" Morpheus asked.

"The Matrix died," Zhantov replied. "The Machines don't have any more power."

"Well, then, rescuing those teens should be a cake walk," Morpheus said happily, brandishing his axe.

* * *

"It's getting warmer in here," Ben remarked. Sure enough, the air was getting warmer and warmer. The icicles hanging from Cassie's nose were starting to fall off, and her muscles were feeling that thawing-out ache.

"Why do you think that is?" Adisyn asked.

"The Matrix must have fully collapsed," Elmer said. "The Machines can't cool this place anymore."

"That explains it," Sammy replied.

"Should we try to get out of here?" Cassie asked, wriggling around in her straightjacket.

"Nah, we can just chill here," Marika suggested.

"Not so much chilling as it will be roasting," Ben remarked. "It's getting hotter every second."

"Ben, you could probably rip out of your straightjacket if you wanted to," Marika remarked. "You've got Silencer strength."

"Lena said we should stay put and pretend we're frozen," Ben replied.

"I don't think we'll be able to pretend for much longer," Sammy said darkly. Sweat was running down his forehead.

"I hope Morpheus gets here soon," Elmer said, "because this place is about to start boiling."

* * *

The Imperturbable docked near the remains of the power plant building. It was collapsed beyond belief: Zhantov couldn't believe that it was still standing up.

"Alright, Morpheus, we'll be waiting for you out here," Zhantov said. "Find the freezer, and you should find the kids."

Morpheus nodded, stepping out of the Hovercraft and waving his axe around threateningly. The door closed behind him, and he was left standing at the entrance to the ruined power plant.

The remains of sentinels littered the floor, sparking as if they had just crashed moments before. Morpheus kicked one to the side as he advanced. It sparked feebly as it rolled off the catwalk into the empty abyss where the pods used to stand.

He jumped up, gliding down the room, until he found a long hallway. Morpheus landed on it's edge: he looked forward, and saw a door leading to a large room. Voices were coming out of it. He went closer, and it seemed like, yes! The voices were getting louder. He went over and the door opened.

"Look! It's some guy!" Sammy exclaimed as Morpheus came over to him.

"We're saved!" Cassie cheered. She tried to wave her arms in celebration, but the straightjacket kept her tied down. "Darn!"

"Zhantov, I've located them, bring the ship around, and we'll get them out of here," Morpheus told him.

"Alright," Zhantov said.

There was silence for a moment.

"Why aren't you coming in?" Morpheus asked.

"Because the freezer is inside, we can't fly through walls, ya dingus," Zhantov replied.

"Alright, alright, I'll bring them out!" Morpheus decided. He cut everyone free: Ben immediately stood up and yawned, but no one else seemed able to move.

"What is this?" Marika asked. "I have a useless body!"

"The bodies you're currently using have never been used before," Morpheus explained. "They're extremely weak."

"Then why is Ben able to stand and jump and stuff?" Cassie asked.

"I'm a Silencer, baby!" Ben said. "I am stronger than y'all!"

"WHAT!" Sammy said. "That's like cheating!"

"Oh the horror!" Cassie shrieked as she covered her eyes.

"Put some clothes on!" Sammy said. Ben just ran out of the room to find some clothes somewhere.

"So, are we just stuck here?" Adisyn asked.

"No, watch this!" Morpheus said. And he waved his hand, and they all floated into the air.

"Woaoaw!" Caleb said.

"Is something happening? I feel like I'm floating," Cassie said.

"You are," Elmer said flatly. Cassie looked down and shrieked for a minute. Then, she realized that shrieking was overrated and she stopped.

"This way," Morpheus commanded, swinging his arms forward. Everyone was swung forward at a fast rate towards the door: however, when they hit the doorway, they all became crammed together and stuck.

"Help!" Sammy exclaimed.

"Hold, on I'll fix this," Morpheus said. He thought hard and pushed Elmer back, pulled Sammy forward, and then led everyone else through.

"That hurt!" Marika complained.

"Sorry gang, that's my bad," Morpheus apologized.

"That's TAAO Gang to you mister!" Cassie said. Morpheus led them over to the ship, and the tractor beam pulled them up.

"Welcome back gang!" was the last thing Cassie heard Zhantov say before she fell asleep. Zhantov worked furiously to get everyone back in line. First there were blankets put over their private parts, except for the babies, they didn't count. They used little metal pins to put in their bodies, and then took them out. All the wire holes were also taken out, except for the one in their necks.

Meanwhile, the Imperturbable had taken off and was heading back to Zion at top speed. In no time at all, they had arrived.

End of Chapter 24


	23. The Battle of Zion

**One Week Later…**

After the TAAO Gang's moderately treacherous escape from the Matrix, they were able to spend a week in recovery. Mike, Lena, and Evan had spent the time acquainting themselves with Zion: it had changed a lot in the past four years. Large buildings had been constructed, towering towards the roof of the underground city, to hold the rapidly-increasing population. For another thing, a new tram system had developed, carrying people through mid-air on trainlike systems. They toured the new establishments with great interest and zeal (especially Evan, since he'd never been there before). Ben also tagged along sometimes, but he spent more time with Marika.

The newly-freed members of the gang were spending time in recovery, getting used to their new bodies and strengthening them. There was a lot of exercise, hard work, pushing and pulling, and other difficult tasks, but by the end of the week, they were all, more or less, ready for normal life.

They had just finished their recovery. However, the well-earned rest for the TAAO Gang would be put off just for a little bit longer by the events that were about to take place. Finalizing this chapter in their lives, and their battle against the Others, would be an adventure of great magnitude and difficulty, a challenge which the entire city would have to strive to overcome: the Battle of Zion.

* * *

Zhantov was positioned in the headquarters where the Zion government was located. The place was inconspicuous- just another bunker- but it was roomy, and contained access to the highest level computer software in the city. While Morpheus stayed on the move, giving speeches and inspecting government institutions, Zhantov remained behind in headquarters, managing the behind-the-scenes tasks that kept the government alive.

Now, he was watching the Mothership: Lena had explained that the aliens aboard it, called the Others, were almost always violent and very anti-human. Zhantov had, in turn, explained the previous android invasion. Lena had wasted no time telling him that they would be back.

Zhantov could see that the time was near, for the Mothership was sinking through the atmosphere.

* * *

Lena was drinking a malt shake. So much had changed: she'd left the real world at the age of fifteen, wanting nothing but to defeat the Machines. Now, she had come back as a woman with a husband and a child of her own. Her focus had changed so much over that period: her mission was to retrieve the Changer, but as soon as the power went out, she only had one plan, which was all about escape.

Now, she'd escaped. Her battles were over. What would she do now? Certainly not rejoin the Matrix fighting group, that was an impossible task. She badly wanted to be a military tactician, but that too was out of question. She would have to become a stay-at-home Mom, the hardest job in the world. For now, little Thomas was asleep in his bassinet next to her.

She lifted the lid to check again to see if he was sleeping. He was, because she had only put him down less than fifteen minutes ago. She stared in awe at what a miracle could happen. A great gift to everyone, having children. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Two fifteen, it read. She looked around their house.

Because of their heroic actions and bravery in the Matrix, they had all been given nice houses, stacked on top of each other. It was a new invention someone came up with, because he said it would save space and money. Theirs was medium red, the second one up, right above Cassie, Evan, and Sammy's house. It was a two story, with a bathroom on every story, three bedrooms, a nice open kitchen, living room, and upstairs bonus room. Lena finished her malt and went to lie on the couch.

Since little Thomas needed so much attention, she needed all the rest she could get. His waking up in the night limited her and Mike's sleep to just four hours, and long, drowsy days always followed after. It wasn't long until sleep consumed her, and she drifted off.

* * *

When they got out of the hospital center, Elmer decided to take advantage of this. He took Sammy out to an empty field, even though he didn't consider it a field because it was underground. Sammy was nine years old, old enough to begin training. Once they got there, Sammy asked the obvious question.

"When do we get to shoot?" he asked.

"Maybe not today, your first must get continoined, strong, as do I really," Elmer replied.

"What, like pushups and things?"

"Yes, and things, like running and other stuff," Elmer said. Sammy was now more comfortable with him, because his appearance had changed. He had no more scars, but he had the same clothes, just no mask.

Elmer set the bag down, and looked around the field. There were long blades of grass, and some trees on the outsides.

"We'll stretch first," Elmer told Sammy. He showed him all the dynamic stretches. Legs, arms, anything they could do to improve their fitness.

"Now, we'll jog to that tree and back," Elmer said. Sammy looked the tree Elmer was pointing to.

"That must be a mile there and back!" he exclaimed.

"It'll improve cardiovascular systems, and endurance, and leg muscles, just don't over do it," Elmer said. "Now line up!" Sammy and Elmer got lined up next to each other in ready stance.

"Ready ...set….go!" Elmer said, and they were off. Elmer was faster than Sammy, so he was able to stay ahead of him. They ran and jogged, Sammy had to pause once to walk a little bit, but then resumed his jog. Their new bodies weren't used to all this exercise and running. They both continually gasped for air. When Elmer reached the end, thirty seconds before Sammy, he fell on his back, breathing heavily.

"That, was hard!" he exclaimed as Sammy caught up with him and fell down.

"I can't believe that was tiring, it was almost the death of me," Sammy replied between breaths.

"Agreed," Elmer stated. "Admittedly, you're a bit young for the mile run."

That was when his phone started ringing.

* * *

Mike and Morpheus were hanging out together at a restaurant. It was Morpheus's day off from presidential duties, and so they were enjoying a bite to eat.

"You know anything about this whole Matrix Energy thing?" Morpheus asked.

"You mean the stuff that spilled over?" Mike replied. "I think we can use our Matrix powers, but if we use too much of them, the energy will wash out. Or something like that. I understand less of it than you."

Morpheus nodded.

"What's your plan for Zion, now that the Machines are gone?" Mike asked.

"We've had teams combing Machine City for technology that we can make use of," Morpheus replied. "Most of the stuff there seems only usable by Machines, but we've found some new, cool stuff."

"Such as?" Mike asked.

"High-strength solar panels, from the days when the Machines were powered by sunlight," Morpheus said. "They convert sunlight energy very efficiently, and they can pick up solar rays reflected off the moon. And, even more importantly, terraforming tech. Scientists at the labs are using it to develop a new chemical that will dissolve the fog we're using to block the sunlight."

"Won't that allow the Machines to come back?" Mike asked.

"NO!" Morpheus said. "No, no, no, they're already dead. They cannot be resurrected."

"I see," Mike replied.

"We're also going to try to use the technology to quickly build a surface ecosystem, which will spread across the world over a period of time. Within the next two years, the entire region that used to be called the Middle East will be habitable. As soon as we deal with the threat from space, we'll start trying to build a new Zion on the surface."

"Ah yes, unless we can develop a superpower weapon, I fear the worst," Mike admitted.

"Well anyway, we'll try our best, since the war with the machines is over, most of our scientists and population are working on this stuff, not weapons, there's simply not that big a need. Of course, we could use Lena, she would be a great service to…."

"No!" Mike exclaimed. "We have a child, I'm the one working, she's a mom now, a stay-at-home mom!" They had had this argument many times. First with Lena herself, who made the choice to raise little Thomas. Mike then took it up to support her in her decision.

"I know, but maybe she could work from home, what about that?"

"Probably not, we're tired enough as it is." The waiter came over and gave them the little check thing. Morpheus pulled out his credit card and put it on the thing, with a tip of five dollars.

"Really, I don't like this place a ton, five dollars seems like too much," Mike said.

"Well I'm the leader, people need to like me, maybe this can be a way," Morpheus said. A few minutes later the waiter came back to retrieve the card. Few minutes after that, he returned and gave him back his card.

"Let's go," Morpheus said as he stood up. Him and Mike walked out of the restaurant

"Where are you off to?" Mike asked him.

"Back to the office, real quick, just to get something, then to my house to do some things, maybe take a nice bath, read some."

"Well, I have to continue work," Mike said as he hopped on his motorbike. With a few puffs it flamed to life.

"So long, see you later," Morpheus waved as Mike took off. He had to hurry if he wanted to get to the bank in time, and get home in time after that.

* * *

"What is it?" Elmer asked.

"This is Zhantov, and we have a problem," Zhantov's voice replied.

"What is it now?" Elmer asked. "I'm kind of tired of fighting things at the moment!"

"The Mothership is descending," Zhantov said. "I've called all the other members of the TAAO Gang and asked them to show up, except Mike. I'm calling him next."

"How long do we have to get….wherever we're going?" Elmer asked.

"You have thirty minutes to get to the presidential building, everyone else should be there by the time you get there."

"Roger that, I'm heading there with Sammy right now, see you then," with that, Elmer hung up.

"What is it?" Sammy asked him as he stood up.

"We're needed, the spaceship is lowering, quick, onto the bike, I'll hitch up the bag."

"But we didn't even get to shoot or anything!"

"We'll do it next time," Elmer replied as he took up the bag.

"But I start school tomorrow!" he said as he strapped his helmet on.

"Well we're needed, that's that." Elmer tied the bag down and got into the driver's seat. He turned the key, and they were off.

* * *

At the presidential building, in the bunker's war room, Morpheus, Zhantov, and the entire TAAO Gang were gathered around an image of the ship slowly descending through the atmosphere.

" _Why_ are we here?" asked Adisyn.

"Yeah, I thought we were supposed to be able to rest and raise our children!" Cassie exclaimed indignantly.

"I'm so, so sorry," Zhantov said. "I agree, you guys have been in a state of perpetual warfare for the past four years of your lives, and you deserve rest. However, before you rest, there is one last battle you must fight."

"That ship," Evan speculated. "It's just like the one that was in the Matrix. The one Lena took out one year ago."

"Yes, exactly," Morpheus replied. "We asked you to come up here because you're the only people in Zion who have experience in fighting these… _Others_."

"Why would it be sinking through the atmosphere?" Sammy asked. "Before, the Others were able to rain destruction from orbit."

"This ship has attacked us once before," Zhantov continued, "just after Mike, Justin, and Lena left the city. It invaded both us and the Machines normally, launching down hordes of androids. Their method of attack seemed a lot more straightforward than the attacks they made in the Matrix."

"It's very unusual," Elmer remarked, stroking his chin.

"Have they launched any other attacks since their initial invasion?" Marika asked.

"Not a one," Morpheus replied. "We think that they exhausted their armies on attacking two targets, and decided to wait until one was gone to attack the other. Now that the Machines are gone, the enemy will be able to focus attacks on us."

"Hold on…." Lena said. She seemed on the verge of having some great thought.

"What is it?" Caleb asked.

"The Others that attacked us in the Matrix used an EMP to take out all the power," Lena continued. "The power outage is what caused the Matrix to start destabilizing in the first place."

Marika's face lit up: everyone was still confused.

"Don't you see?" Marika explained. "They sent themselves to destroy the Matrix from the inside, causing the Machines to die off, and opening the possibility of an attack on Zion. It all makes sense!"

"So, they took out the Matrix just so they could attack humans in the Real World?" Caleb asked.

"That makes sense!" Sammy exclaimed. Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement, and understanding.

"Zhantov!" someone cried. "The ship has stopped descending."

"Make your decision quickly!" Zhantov exclaimed. "We need your help to protect this city. Will you fight one last battle?"

There was silence for a moment.

"I'll do it," a small voice. Everyone turned to look at Sammy as he stepped forward, and for once, no one tried to stop him. He had proved himself in the Matrix. He was already a deadly fighter, at the age of nine.

"I will, too," Elmer said, stepping up next to him. One by one, each member of the TAAO Gang stepped forward.

"We'll do it, together," Evan proclaimed. Though Sammy had taken the first step, Evan was still the clear leader.

* * *

"Alright," Zhantov said. They had just finished gearing up, and were wearing heavy black uniforms, with metal helmets, and were carrying sophisticated assault rifles.

"For those of you who have just been freed," Zhantov continued, "you'll be weaker than normal throughout this battle. However, we may have found a temporary fix for that."

"What's that?" Lena asked.

"Our scientists have developed a new synthetic chemical, called Adrenaline Enhancing High Anti-Narcotic Solution, or AEHANS. A dose of this chemical will cause your body to produce adrenaline for thirty minutes. Doses of AEHANS regularly administered every half-hour will provide enough adrenaline to keep you fighting."

"Alright, what are the unintended side-effects?" Marika asked.

"After about two hours, your blood will stop clotting," Zhantov replied. "You'll need to return at that point, and we can drain the chemical from your system. That should only take ten minutes, then you can hit yourself with another dose and keep fighting."

"Will it hurt?" Sammy asked.

"Don't know, don't think so, but be careful," Zhantov said.

"How do we use it?" asked Marika.

"Like an EpiPen, sorta," Zhantov replied. "Actually that's where we got the whole idea. Keep your fingers off of the injection point, plunge it into your left forearm. It won't go through anything thicker than denim, so you'll need to roll up your sleeve to apply it."

"Alright, sounds easy enough," Cassie remarked, though she sounded a bit more nervous than she wanted to.

"Okay, take these," Zhantov ordered. "Three each. Then, meet outside with your squad to fight."

"Lucky for us," Evan said as he pointed to himself, Mike, and Lena. "We don't have to take any."

"Oh shut up Evan," Marika said.

* * *

Everyone was gathered outside, carrying weapons: they had SCAR-H Assault Rifles, and Ben and Evan each carried an M60. Elmer had two six-shooters, due to his proficiency with that particular firearm. Sammy was too small for most guns, so he was given a Skorpion. Over their uniforms were body armour, which could absorb heat fairly well and deflect a low-caliber bullet. Ben and Sammy were the only people not given armour, because it was too heavy for Sammy, and Ben thought it was uncomfortable. Adisyn carried only a pistol: she was the dedicated medic. Finally, Cassie, Marika, and Lena carried Gadget Pouches, and Mike had a massive Lightning Rifle slung across his back. The TAAO Gang was surrounded by other squads of soldiers, ready to fight whatever the Others sent down.

"The Mothership is about four-thousand feet off the ground," Zhantov stated dramatically. "It's stopped descending. We can only assume that this is the point at which they will mount their assault. Last time, they only entered through the five tunnels leading into the city.

"I want squads one through thirty to guard the tunnels, dividing them up between yourselves. Don't let anything through."

"What about the rest of us?" some guy asked.

"Defend the city streets," Zhantov replied. "In case the enemy penetrates through the tunnels, we will have a second line of defense."

"Which squad are we again?" Sammy asked.

"Squad forty-seven," Mike replied. "We're on the streets."

"What!" Cassie said indignantly. "That's not fair. The tunnel-guards get to see all of the action!"

"Be grateful," Evan intoned. "I have a funny feeling that the Others are planning something fishy."

* * *

They were positioned at Zion's central junction, at the point where all of the various trams stop at some point during the day. Morpheus was with them, also. He was the One, and his powers would help greatly in the coming fight.

"Why are you not at the tunnel?" Mike asked.

"Too crowded for me to use my flight," Morpheus replied. At the moment, he was hovering about a foot off the ground.

Suddenly, a klaxon-like sound blasted out of several emergency speakers. Then, a familiar voice spoke through the speakers.

"People of Zion, this is Vice President Zhantov. Four hours ago, the city was advised to enter a state of pre-emergency. Emergency status is officially declared. All citizens are compelled to retreat to the bunkers. We are about to be invaded."

When he finished speaking, the klaxon began to sound off again. Mike remembered the old emergency precautions from the days when the Machines were a major threat. It seemed that they were still in use: even now, citizens were rushing out of doors to board the emergency trams prepared to take people further underground, or else climbing down steep ladders leading deep into the earth.

That's when the TAAO Gang heard five large thumps coming from above. Lena was the first to look up: she could see particles of dust falling from the ceiling towards her. Then, five long rods started breaking through the ceiling: four of them seemed to be positioned above the four corners of the city. And the fifth…. The fifth was right above them.

The rod fell towards them: Lena quickly whipped a small metal orb from her Gadget Pouch. She clicked a button and threw it upward as hard as she could. As the metal rod fell, the orb blew open, forming a wall of thin energy above their heads. The rod hit it, and stabilized on top.

"Everyone, clear this area!" Morpheus commanded. The people in the intersection began sprinting in all directions, and the TAAO Gang followed suit: the scrambled into an alleyway as fast as they could.

Just as they made it into the alley, the wall of energy that Lena had created shattered under the weight of the rod. It dropped hard, crashing into the ground with epic force: Cassie, who was standing nearest, could feel the earth under her feet vibrating.

Sammy looked in awe, Lena's brain moving a thousand miles a minute, and Evan felt like it was almost time for him to meet an old friend. Ben, Marika, and Cassie's weapons were up before anyone else's, and Morpheus rose into the air above them, axe in hand, ready for anything. They knew what was happening: it was, truly, the battle of Zion.

* * *

"Stand fast!" Morpheus commanded, brandishing his axe at the massive rod.

He had just finished speaking when the rod began dissolving. The metal melted away as red light chewed away at its edges. As the outside of the rod vanished, a pole appeared on the inside, covered on all sides by swarms of _them._ They were androids, not unlike the T-600s in appearance, but thinner and shorter, and with various weapons affixed to their limbs. Morpheus recognized them, of course: he had fought them before.

Then, like a rainstorm of iron, the androids began jumping off of the pole, landing on the street, or else on the large buildings surrounding them. Several of them landed on the ground, just in front of the TAAO Gang.

"Fire," Evan calmly ordered.

Every member of the gang ducked behind a wall, and began firing out from behind corners. A couple of the androids collapsed under the hail of bullets: the rest, however, raised various scientific-looking weapons, firing at rapid speed. One shot a water pipe next to Ben's face: he cursed as shrapnel from the pipe bit into his face, and water shot out at him. Elmer was fanning with his revolver. When one ran out, he switched to another, then switched back and quickly reloaded, all six bullets at once!

"[censored]!" Lena yelled. She turned the corner, nailing one of them with a shot from her assault rifle. Everyone else moved outwards, pressing an advance on the androids. The team was split into two parts, each one one side of a row of buildings.

"On the roofs!" Elmer yelled to his team. Cassie, Sammy, Lena, and Marika with him. Together, they threw up ropes to the tops of smaller buildings and began climbing. The mowed down androids as they came from above.

"Let's catch them in a crossfire!" Marika yelled down to Evan. He nodded, knowing exactly what to do. He continued with his arm for his team to follow him, but for them to be able to get farther down, they had to go through many more androids. They split up, going on other sides of the alley. They made sure everything was reloaded, and not until Evan gave the signal did they move.

"Charge!" he exclaimed. The all turned around and began blasting everything in front of them, no matter how big or hard. It was truly a heroic moment to witness.

"Go team!" Sammy cheered from above. Mike gave him a quick glance and a smile, which made him smile. They continued firing until they were twenty yards away from Elmer's team, who were still climbing up. They quickly reloaded, turned around, and continued to fire, while Elmer's team fired as well. But they were sure as heck careful that they didn't hit each other. The androids, were at a standstill. The genius of human innovation and creativity broke them.

The androids began to fire at one side of the gang, but eventually even started shooting each other.

"This is it, press the attack….now!" Evan declared. The two small armies charged forward, smashing any androids in their way.

"Keep shooting!" Mike yelled. They were almost through the current wave of androids. The androids knew they were beat, so they went to their last resort, self destruction. The Others had created this feature, when in case of a loss of battle, they would at least kill some more.

So, without warning, they suddenly exploded in a fury of flames.

"Duck!" Ben yelled as they quickly hit the dirt, Elmer's team wasn't as lucky. They were hit by tons of debris. They reacted fast. Elmer tacked Marika to the ground, Cassie tackled Sammy, and Lena swung to the side. Then they did what you do to get rid of flames on your clothes, roll! Right off the building. They rolled a short distance, before they hit the ground, the breath knocked out of them.

Mike stood up, looking around him, as the breath slowly re-filled his lungs. The city was burning, and more rods were falling from the sky. All around was destruction, and a losing fight. Mike knew what had to happen.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the Changer. Lena looked at him.

"Mike, what are you doing?" she asked.

"You said there was some Matrix energy left?" Mike asked. "Well, I'm gonna use the rest of it. I'm gonna build us an army."

"What kind of army?" Lena asked.

"The best kind!" was all Mike said before he spoke his command into the changer. But nothing happened. Mike quickly overned the changer and took the battery case off, it was empty.

"God[censored], who has a [censored] battery?" Mike asked.

"Got some in my walkie talkie!" Marika said as she frantically pulled them out. Then she tossed them to Mike, who shoved them inside the changer.

"I request all the men you can give me, fully armored, with heavy artillery! In addition to that, all the tanks and armored vehicles I can have," Mike said, but paused before pressing the button. "Please?" then he took his finger off it. Instantly, everything he wanted appeared. There were over two-hundred soldier, four tanks, and 8 armored cars. Each man had dark green armor and helmets, armed with rifles, lmgs, snipers, smgs, rocket, and any overpowered weapon there was.

"Load the vehicles men!" Mike commanded. All the soldiers headed for the tanks and cars. The gang got in one car, and the driver sped off to the nearest rod.

"Concentrate all fire on the large clumps of androids!" Mike ordered over a megaphone, a bonus from the Changer. Every soldier, tank, and rocket fired at the nearest clumps. Every direction there were explosions.

The mechanized wave of androids was no match for Mike's army of perfect soldiers. They drove back the robots, pushing them back across the town.

Soon enough, the TAAO Gang found themselves defending a large skyscraper that was being sieged by androids.

"Watch this!" Lena commanded. She reached into her gadget pouch, pulling out a little cube, and throwing it forward. When it landed, it expanded out into a turret that began to seek out androids and shoot them.

"Ya!" Mike cried, diving into battle. While Evan, Mike, Ben, and Marika shot their way through the androids, Cassie used several large magnets to pull androids to her. Elmer and Caleb manned the armoured car that the TAAO Gang was in, Sammy stood back and sniped, and Lena threw out another device- this time, it was an EMP Grenade that took out many dozens of androids in one strike.

"This is amazing!" Cassie yelled, also throwing out her EMP.

"You wouldn't happen to have a few thousand more of those, would you?" Evan asked.

After very little time, the androids were all but defeated, driven out of Zion. The soldiers, together with the TAAO Gang, celebrated and shot the few remaining androids into oblivion

"Yar!" Mike exclaimed with joy.

"We did it!" Marika yelled.

"That was…. Surprisingly easy," Morpheus said, walking over.

It was at this moment that Mike noticed his decreased amount of strength flowing through his body. He was strong, for sure, but nothing like he was before. His use of the Changer had destroyed the last relics of Matrix energy in the Real World, for good.

Suddenly, the ceiling broke open again; the TAAO Gang looked up in shock as six more of the android rods fell from the sky, landing on the surface of the earth.

Mike held up the Changer, intending to summon more stuff: however, the Changer was broken. He'd used it past it's last straw to defend Zion.

"Morpheus, can we call back the troops from the entrance to defend?" Mike asked.

"No," Morpheus replied. "We can't count on the Others not having more troops at the entrances, waiting to pour in."

"I get the feeling that there's only one way to deal with this threat, once and for all," Lena said dramatically. "We need to destroy the Mothership."

Everyone nodded. Mike supposed that he'd known he would have to do this from the beginning, but that didn't make the job any easier.

"Can you defend the city without us?" Evan asked Morpheus.

"Definitely," Morpheus replied whilst cracking his knuckles.

"Excellent," Cassie said.

"We'll be back down in a jiffy," Mike told Morpheus. "Now, where can we find a ship?"

* * *

"Okay people, on the ready line," Evan commanded. All of them were in a hanger, waiting to board the ship to lift off. The plan was that once they were above the ship, they would drop down on top of it, and the craft would return for more soldiers. Adisyn had stayed behind to take care of the babies.

"Those six-shooters won't do much you know," Mike told him as they suited up.

"You just wait fool!" Elmer replied. Since they were released from the Matrix, his character had changed to be more, well, real.

"C'mon gang, no time to fool around, we have to be on that craft in five minutes or it's leaving without us," Evan told them. They all finished getting ready within the next minute. They all ran in a single file line to the loading area. It was a large open area, not much awaited them there. Just some crates, a forklift and some hooks. While they waited for the craft to land, Lena, being smart as always, went through a checklist.

"Parachutes?" she asked everyone.

"Check!" everyone replied.

"Helmets?"

"Check!"

"Wait, I don't have one, and neither does Sam over here," Ben complained.

"Yeah, well too bad," Lena said.

 _Savage,_ Cassie thought in her head.

"Armor?"

"Check!"

"Not…." Sammy started.

"Not now kid," Elmer scolded.

"Weapons?"

"Check!"

"And most importantly, AEHANS?" Everyone fumbled in their pocket real quick to make sure they had their last capsules.

"Got it!"

"Everyone has their gun on safety?"

"Lena, do we look like the careless type to you?" Ben said as he threw his arms up, pointing his gun right at Cassie's head.

"You certainly do," Lena said.

"Yeah, aim that down!" Cassie shrieked as she forced his arms down. Suddenly, Elmer saw the dropship coming down.

"Quick, let's go!" he told everyone as he pointed to the ship. The ship resembled a stealth fighter, with shorter wings and it was taller. The gang scrambled to get aboard as quick as they could.

"C'mon men….and women!" the pilot exclaimed.

"Get in your seats and trap down, we got a five minute travel," Evan said as he found his seat. Everyone followed his example. They took a seat and pulled the bar over their body.

"Everyone inject the AEHANS into your body right before we jump," Lena commanded.

"Otherwise when you hit the hard metal of the ship you're bones will break," Mike added. The ship lifted off, and within a few short seconds they were airborne, speeding through the thick atmosphere at two-hundred miles an hour. Those five minutes seemed like a blur to Sammy when he saw the mothership through the window.

"There it is!" he shouted pointed frantically.

"We'll be in jump area in less than one minute," the pilot told them.

"Out out out!" Evan ordered as he put the bar up.

"No wait!" Cassie told him, but it was too late. As he stepped out of the chair, immediately he was flung to the back of the ship and slammed into the wall.

"Ha!" Sammy exclaimed.

"I'm just gonna sit down here until we reduce speed," Evan decided as he rubbed his shoulder. The ship continued to bear down on the mothership until the speed was reduced to fifty miles per hour.

"You have a thirty second drop window, starting now!" the pilot told them. Each member quickly got out of their seats.

"Quick, use the AEHANS!" Cassie told everyone. They all got out theirs.

"We'll meet you guys down there," Mike told the rest as Lena, Evan, Ben, and him jumped down.

"Wait!" Cassie said, but they already jumped. At this point, everyone was beginning to jump. Marika managed to jump right as the pilot counted at one. They dropped like rocks, pulling up their sleeves: Cassie stabbed her AEHANS into her left forearm, and saw the others doing the same. They all fell faster and faster until at the point they knew, they pulled the chute and landed safely, but still hard.

"Now what the $%!#" do we do?" Marika asked Elmer, they had landed only a few yards away from each other.

"Go the direction Lena landed of course, she's the smart one," Elmer said. With that, they were off. Cassie was ahead, with Sammy and Ben behind. The ship vibrated like crazy, causing everyone to wobble and wiggle as they tried to run, but it was more of a quick walk.

"Help!" Sammy exclaimed as tried hard not to fall down.

"Quick, go towards the middle of the ship," Ben yelled from behind. They all went in that direction. Soon after a few minutes, they met up in the middle, with Mike, Lena, and Evan.

"How do we get inside?" Marika asked Lena once they regrouped.

"Mike, you'll need to melt a hole in the ship," Lena stated. "Use your Lightning Rifle!"

"Right then, stand back everyone!" Mike ordered as he powered on his rifle. "This could be dangerous!" Suddenly the ship came to a direct halt. Everyone stumbled and fell down, Mike nearly blasted Elmer in the face. Before they knew what had happened, they were all on their butts, faces, or backs.

"Watch it dolt!" Elmer yelled at him. Mike quickly turned the rifle off. That was when they heard the yell of Sammy. Everyone turned to see him….sliding down the edge of the ship! It was a long slide, but Sammy was nearly at the end. Elmer quickly flew into action.

He attached his rope he brought along to his belt, tossed the other half to Caleb, and did a dolphin dive towards Sammy. He slid, face forward, arms out as fast as he could to rescue the little tot. Elmer caught up to him, and grabbed his arms as Sammy held them out.

"Pull!" Elmer yelled to Caleb. He began to pull with all his might. It was hard for him, so Mike and Evan helped him out, getting Elmer and Sammy to safety in no time.

"Thanks guys, I owe you one," Sammy said.

"No one here owes anyone anything, we're a team," Evan said.

"No, we're a family," Cassie corrected him.

"Which is a team," Caleb said.

"I dunno, the old Gates family wasn't exactly an efficient unit," Elmer replied.

"Stop wasting time," Lena interrupted. "We need to get into the ship!"

"Right, take two!" Mike stated, aiming the Lightning Rifle at the same patch of metal. This time the bolt of bright yellow electricity hit the metal. Mike had it going until it ran out of energy ammo, which then he had to replace it. When he turned the beam off, they all looked, and were shocked. The metal was just the way it was before, the rifle didn't even make a dent.

"You freakin piece of trash! Work!" Mike yelled.

"Mike, they're advanced aliens, this ship might not even be made out of metal, at least not one we know," Elmer said trying to calm him down.

"I know, but crap, now what are we supposed to do?" Mike asked.

"We'll have to either try to find another way in, or just stay on the top, or call the ship back," Evan said.

"I won't admit defeat, not now, after we've come so far!" Marika said.

"She's right," Sammy agreed. "There's no such thing as a no win scenario."

"Hold on," Cassie said, having a light bulb moment. "I think I remember something."

"What is it?" Evan asked.

"Remember in the Matrix, our original plan to take down the Others?" Cassie asked. "We were gonna use pods to fly into the Mothership and blow it up from the _in_ side."

"Oh, ya!" Lena exclaimed.

"Which means there's an entrance somewhere on this thing…." Evan speculated.

"On the bottom," Sammy whispered. There was silence for a moment.

"Well, [censored]," Elmer stated. "How are we supposed to get down there?"

"We can use the ropes," Ben suggested.

"I suppose," Marika agreed.

"We can attach the ropes up here with magnets," Lena said, pulling out a magnet from her gadget-bag.

"Then climb down the side," Cassie continued.

"And swing under the ship to the hole," Caleb finished.

"We can't _swing_ under the ship," Evan admonished him. "However, we _can_ use more magnets to grapple across the bottom of the ship."

"I only have four magnets," Lena replied. "And Cassie used hers in the city."

"That's easy," Ben said. "We attach one end of the rope with the first magnet up here, then I take the other three and the rope, grapple across the bottom with two of them, then attach the rope at the entrance hole, and the rest of you climb along the bottom."

"Do we have a long enough rope?" Evan asked. "I mean, this thing is massive. It's circumference is about a mile."

"We should all have about one-hundred feet of rope," Lena said, doing calculations in her head. "And we need a half-mile of it."

"Isn't that half a mile?" Sammy asked. Everyone stared at him like he was an idiot.

"What?" he asked.

"You really need to get enrolled in school kid," Ben replied.

"So, it's not enough," Marika sighed.

"Well crap, what are we supposed to do now?" Evan asked.

"We can use our clothes, shoelaces, and anything else we can use," Elmer suggested.

"Good idea, but it might not be enough," Lena replied.

"We'll have to try, we need about two thousand, five-hundred, and forty feet of it, it's worth a shot!" Elmer replied.

"Ok, but everyone leave underwear and stuff on, no naked bodies, not again," Cassie replied. Everyone agreed on-hundred percent with that idea. They all began to take off shirts, pants, hats, jackets, shoes, anything that might work. Even handbags and gloves. Everyone gave their shoes to Cassie as she took the laces off them. Soon in twenty minutes, they had added almost enough to reach the bottom, they were ten feet short.

"I had no idea we had so much junk on us!" Mike said. He was in his boxer shorts. He had on his army vest, just so he could have more clothes.

"Neither did I," Marika agreed, who was in panties and a bra, but still, her army jacket was on. Everyone had their army jackets on, except for Ben and Sammy, who didn't have armor.

"Well, Ben volunteered, so he's still going to go," Evan said.

"But there's not enough rope, how am I supposed to make it?"

"We have to try, the ship may be a bit shorter."

"Alright!" With one hand, Ben had the rope, the other, the magnet.

"Good luck Ben!" Marika said as she gave him a kiss.

"I'll make it!" he said confidently.

"Let's hope so, or else we're all screwed," Mike said.

"Buzzkill," Sammy wisered to Lena.

Ben knotted the rope around his upper torso, strapped his magnets to his hand, and walked to the edge of the ship. Lena magnetized the rope to the surface of the ship, and Ben dropped down.

It wasn't a long fall, and as he got closer to the bottom of the ship, he prepared to attach his hands. Soon enough, he flung out his arms, magnetizing to the ship, and started pulling himself along the bottom.

The wind whipped at his body, blowing him far to the side as he clambered along the bottom of the vast Mothership. In the distance, he could see a green glow from the center of the craft, where, presumably, the ship's entrance would be.

Ben kept climbing along and along, swinging like nothing mattered…. Until he reached the end of his rope.

 _Crap,_ Ben thought to himself. He switched on his comm.

"Guys," he said. "The rope isn't long enough."

"What? It isn't?" Lena asked.

"No, it's not," Ben replied. "I don't know who did these calculations, but uh, the rope definitely isn't long enough."

"Try to come back," Evan said in a disappointed voice.

"Alright, I'll try," Ben replied.

He detached one of his magnet arms, and started swinging around. At the exact same time, a massive gust of wind blew towards him, detaching him from the bottom of the ship. For a moment, all Ben felt was a swooping feeling in his stomach, looking down at the innumerable miles beneath him. Then, he began dropping like a stone, swinging along by his rope.

"Ben, what are you doing?" Elmer shouted into the comm.

"Going in for the death!" Ben replied. Then, the rope reached the end of it's arc, and Ben hung there limply.

"Ben? Ben, are you alright?" Marika demanded frantically.

"I'm alive, but I don't know that I'm alright," Ben replied. "Especially since there's no way to get up."

"Just, hang in there," Cassie suggested.

"That was really morbid, Cassie," Ben replied in a dejected voice. "That was really mean."

"Oops, I didn't mean to do that…." Cassie said.

"Does anybody know how to get him up here?" Caleb asked.

"No, I don't," Evan replied.

Suddenly, Ben could hear a _creeeaaaking_ noise from above him. He looked up…. To see the rope snapping in two.

"Um, guys?" Ben asked.

"What?" Marika counter-asked.

The rope snapped. Ben plummeted headfirst towards the ground, magneted hands out, screaming like a firework getting launched, feet flailing around…..

Then, Ben felt a tug on his hands, and his magnets pulled him towards a landed hovercraft. The magnets impacted with the hovercraft's roof, absorbing most of the impact, and Ben fell with a small _umph_ to the surface.

"BEN! BEN! BEN! BENJAMIN THOMAS PARISH!" Marika screamed into the comm, blasting Ben's eardrums out.

"[censored]!" Ben shouted. "Keep your voice down, these comms are [censored]ing loud!"

"Oh my god, Ben, how did you survive that?" Lena demanded.

"It was the magnets," Ben replied. "They pulled me out of the fall and attached to this hovercraft."

"There's a hovercraft?" Sammy asked.

"I don't think it works, but there's one right here," Ben answered, standing up. The hovercraft had crash landed near a large hill of blackened earth. He could see one of the tunnels leading into Zion about a mile away.

"Our rope broke," Lena said dejectedly.

"How are we supposed to get across now?" Mike asked.

"And missing one of our best fighters…" Cassie muttered.

"And you know what?" Elmer complained. "I bet our AEHANS is gonna run out pretty quick now."

Ben looked around for something useful, something that could help them. There was the hovercraft, that hill of blackened earth, a long coil of metal tube spilling out of the hovercraft…. Slowly, a plan began to form in his plan.

"Guys," Ben said. "I have a plan. But I need you to be ready to catch something."

" _Catch_ something?" Elmer asked.

Ben jumped to the ground, ran over to the tube, and started tugging on it none too gently. Gravity helped him, and the tube started coming out very quickly. Even so, it took a long time for the extremely long and heavy coil to finish emerging.

"Ben," Lena asked, "what in God's name are you doing?"

"I found a new rope," Ben replied. "That is, if you want it…. I suppose I could keep it for myself…."

"No, no, no," Lena said. "We want it."

Ben attached one of his magnets to both ends of the tube, and started lugging it towards the bottom of the large hill.

"Just one question, Ben," Evan stated. "How do you plan to get this rope up here?"

"Just watch," Ben replied. He was at the foot of the hill, now, and he positioned his feet to push off.

"Ben, whatever you're doing, DON'T DO IT!" Lena suggested.

Ben started sprinting up the hill at top Silencer speed (in other words, extremely fast). He kept running, getting closer and closer to the summit of the hill… when he reached the top, he let out a yell and jumped upwards, holding the end of the massive magnet in front of him.

The combination of his momentum, his gained height, and his Silencer legs allowed Ben to jump extremely high into the air: the Mothership grew larger and larger, and the ground grew farther and farther away. Ben held up his various magnets, and he felt the magnetic force being pulled towards the Mothership. Just as he started to drop down, a massive tug on the end of his magnet pulled him upward. He landed on the side of the Mothership, pushing off with his feet, and flying up the remaining distance. He landed right in front of the TAAO Gang, and his magnetized rope attached itself to the surface of the Mothership.

"So, um," Ben said. "How'd…. How'd you like my plan?"

"What-" Evan stuttered, clearly shocked.

"H-how?" Marika asked.

"That was pretty epic, wasn't it?" Ben replied.

"In this situation, I think it'd be appropriate to bring back the old cheer," Mike remarked.

"The old cheer?" Lena asked. "Really?"

"Ya," Mike replied. "On three…. One…. two…. Three!"

Everyone (except Caleb, Marika, and Elmer) all yelled, "FOR THE FABRIC SOFTENERS!"

"What…?" Caleb asked.

"You wouldn't understand," Ben replied.

"I believe you," Elmer muttered.

"So, you got back up," Cassie stated. "Now what?"

"You see this big tube thing I have?" Ben asked.

"I'm guessing you're gonna use that to get across the bottom of the ship?" Lena replied.

"Yerth," Ben confirmed.

"Alright, knock yourself out," Sammy commanded.

Ben pulled the two magnets of of his hands, attaching them to his feet. Then, he turned and began walking down the side of the Mothership. He slid the long rope between his hands, giving it a little slack behind him. When he reached the underbelly of the ship, he began to carefully run, making sure that his feet never got too far from the bottom of the ship. He got closer and closer to the eerie green light at the center of the ship, and still, there was plenty of rope behind him.

Soon enough, he arrived at the entrance. The center of the Mothership was a giant tube, leading upward into the ship itself. All along the tube were wires, crossbeams, and other mechanical devices.

"Guys, I'm at the entrance," Ben whispered.

"Good," Evan replied. "Can we climb across, now?"

"Not yet," Ben answered. He hoisted himself onto a ledge at the entrance of the tube, pulling the magnetized end of the rope to him, and attaching it to the wall. Then he turned around.

Below him was a vast drop towards the blackened Earth many hundreds of feet below him. From up there, he could see the hill he'd jumped from as just a small impression on the earth. An extreme sense of vertigo wrapped around his brain, and he had to grab onto a wire to keep himself from falling.

"How's your guys's AEHANS looking?" he heard Lena ask.

"Still tingling, but it's getting weaker," Caleb replied. "I don't think we have much time left."

"Ben, we need to climb, fast!" Elmer exclaimed.

"I'm ready," Ben told him. "Climb away."

"Alright, people with AEHANS first," Evan told them. "Send Sammy, he's gonna need the most energy to get across."

"Alright," Sammy said. "Here I go."

Ben dropped down, hanging from the ledge by one hand, and watched as the adrenaline-filled Sammy swinging across the way. He was followed shortly thereafter by Cassie, then Marika, then Caleb….. Slowly but surely, everyone crossed, except for Lena and Mike.

"What's wrong, guys?" Cassie asked. She was standing on a ledge with her back pressed against the wall.

"It's Lena," Mike replied. "She's great with brains and all…. But….."

"I don't have the adrenaline, nor the strength, necessary to cross that," Lena clarified.

"Can Mike get across?" Caleb asked.

"I think so," Mike replied. "I'm more concerned about leaving Lena. We're gonna need her mind when we're inside. No offense to you guys, but she makes all of us dumb in comparison."

"I don't think you'll need me as much," Lena said. "Who you'll _really_ need is Evan. He's the only one in this group with any idea how all this alien technology works. I can stay up here, and help you solve problems over the comms if you need me to."

"Really?" Ben asked. "Are you okay with sitting this one out?"

"I've already destroyed one of these things," Lena said. "When the ship comes back, I'll get on board, go back to ground level, and help Adisyn. I'll still be able to communicate with you and all, I'll just be farther away."

"I'm not sure if I like this," Caleb complained.

"Why?" Lena asked.

"Our AEHANS is gonna go out in mere seconds," he answered. "We're pretty useless without it."

"This is a predicament," Ben stated blandly.

"Well, I'm sure that I could contact the ship and tell them to bring up a bunch of AEHANS," Lena told them. "Mike, you start crossing, and I'll take care of that."

"Mmkay," Mike replied. Ben looked over, and saw him crossing the rope.

After a few minutes of climbing, Lena came back online.

"I've contacted the ship," Lena told them. "They said that getting the AEHANS will delay their departure, and they'll be down with you guys in about twenty minutes."

"I'm almost to you guys," Mike told them. Mere moments later, Ben saw his hand grasp the bottom of the ledge and pull himself up.

"Man, I feel remarkably weak," Mike told them all. "No Matrix enhancements and all."

"You're still pretty strong," Marika encouraged him.

"Only as strong as a bodybuilder," Mike said sadly (as if that was anything to be sad about).

"Well, we're all here now," Sammy pointed out.

"I suppose we'll wait for the ship," Cassie decided.

They didn't need to wait long, however, for something interesting to happen.

After about ten minutes, Ben's enhanced ears picked up a sound far above them. He could tell that Evan could hear it too, because his head snapped upwards towards the sound.

"What's that noise?" Ben asked.

"I dunno," Evan replied cautiously.

"What noise?" Caleb asked.

It was a ticking, rumbling noise coming from above. Then, all of a sudden, it started getting much louder.

"I hear it!" Cassie said apprehensively.

"EVERYONE, FLAT UP AGAINST THE WALL!" Evan commanded. Everyone flattened themselves to the wall, and not a moment too soon. A massive curtain of metal fell in front of Ben's face, heat radiating out from it and almost burning his skin. Soon enough, it had passed: looking down, Ben saw one of the rods that would be carrying androids falling towards Earth at remarkable speed.

"Dear God," Evan muttered.

"We need to keep our ears open for those," Caleb whispered.

"We need to stay here for a few more minutes," Ben commanded. "Then, we can head up."

The TAAO Gang clung to the wall for what seemed like hours, before the Zionite ship pulled up below them. A door opened in the side, and Lena leaned out.

"Hey, Lena," Mike said.

"Hi guys," Lena replied. "I've got the AEHANS."

And she threw a small pouch to each of them in turn (Sammy nearly dropped his), excluding Evan, Ben, and Mike.

"Also, Cassie, take my gadget pouch," Lena commanded, throwing up another small bag to Cassie.

"Thanks, Lena," Sammy said.

"I assume we'll be in touch?" Marika asked.

"Of course," Lena replied. "Catch you later."

And the ship descended out of sight.

* * *

"This is it," Evan told them all. "We're gonna climb up there, we're gonna destroy these people, and we're gonna live happily ever after."

"Speaking of which," Cassie asked. "Did we ever make a plan as to how we're gonna destroy the ship?"

"Nope," Ben replied. "We're winging it. As always."

"Everyone AEHANS'd up?" asked Marika.

"Yes," everyone replied.

"Then I see no reason why we shouldn't start climbing," Evan decided.

"Everyone, make sure to keep an ear open for those rods," Elmer warned them, as he began climbing. Everyone else followed him.

"I kinda feel naked climbing into this without Lena," Evan said in a worried tone. "If there's one member of this gang that we can't do without, it's Lena."

"Oh, c'mon," Lena said over the comms. "You guys are so helpless…. Just remember, I'm right here on the comms if you need me."

"Right," Cassie murmured, dragging herself over a ledge.

The gang climbed up the treacherous tube arm over arm. The adrenaline coursing through their veins, or just their superb strength, allowed them all to make ground climbing up the sheer wall of the tube.

Within time, Evan found the way in.

"Guys, look at this," he said, pointing. Everyone else climbed up to his level, and saw what he was pointing at. It was a small door, probably meant for Silencers to go through.

"I guess that's our way in?" Sammy asked.

"Indeed it is," Ben replied, jumping over to Evan.

"How do you think we open it?" Marika demanded.

"There's gotta be some way," Evan muttered, feeling around the thing.

"Aha!" Ben exclaimed, pointing towards a little pad. Evan pressed his hand against the pad, and the door opened violently (pushing Evan off of the ledge).

Everyone laughed as Evan pulled himself back up to the top, coughing.

"That was quite rude!" he complained towards the door. Cassie climbed in first, followed by Ben and Evan, then everyone else.

Sammy shut the door behind him, and they stepped into a pitch black airlock room. Everyone turned on their flashlights.

"Look over there," Caleb commanded, pointing his flashlight. "A convenience!"

Everyone looked over to see an array of mannequins, all clad in various garments.

"What are _those_ doing here?" Cassie asked.

"The Others analyzed samples of human clothing while preparing to invade," Evan replied. "But that doesn't matter: everyone, suit up!"

The TAAO Gang dashed over to the mannequins en masse, all picking out new outfits. No one liked having no clothes on. Evan dressed in a plaid shirt and baggy jeans, like a lumberjack. Cassie put on a pantsuit, and Marika dressed in a disco outfit. Elmer and Caleb both dressed like police officers, Mike became a gangster, Ben put on a denim shirt, jacket, and jeans, and Sammy put on a construction worker costume (like one for Halloween).

"Well, now," Elmer muttered, looking around at his group. "Now that we are properly garbed, let us exit this cursed place."

Evan used his flashlight to find the other door out of the airlock. He pressed his palm to it, and the door swung open with a crash (Evan was hit by the door and knocked backwards). Marika led the way into the bowels of the ship, with her flashlight out.

The inside of the Mothership was just as dark as the airlock. As she shone the light about, she discovered that they were in a high-ceilinged hallway, surrounded on all sides by black shelves. The entire room was filled with an eerie, quiet buzzing.

"This is spooky," Sammy remarked.

"What is all this stuff?" Cassie asked, pointing out all of the shelves.

"No idea," Ben replied, running his hands along them.

"I wouldn't advise touching that," Elmer stated darkly. Ben pulled his hand off quickly.

"I think I know what these are," Evan mused.

"What are they, then, huh?" Caleb asked.

"The Others," Evan replied. "They live in these shelves. These probably contain coding, wiring, places where the Others can live digitally."

"So if I took my gun and started spraying into all of these shelves…." Ben started.

"I wouldn't advise that," Caleb interrupted. "With any luck, they don't know we're here yet. I don't fancy drawing an entire horde of androids to us."

"Why don't we ask Lena about a plan or something?" Evan suggested.

"Did someone say my name?" Lena asked over the comm.

"Ya, Lena help," Caleb demanded.

"Help!" Elmer agreed.

"We need you to make big plan," Cassie said.

There was silence for a moment.

"Lena?" Caleb asked.

There was silence for a moment.

"Guys, are you still there?" Lena asked.

"Yes," Elmer said.

"If you are, I can't-" Lena started, before a blast of static cut through the comms and they couldn't hear her anymore.

"Lena? Lena?" Mike demanded. There was no reply.

"Comms are down," Evan complained, pulling out his earpiece. "We're on our own."

"I knew leaving Lena behind was a bad idea," Ben muttered.

"We're gonna need a plan ourselves," Mike stated. "Any takers?"

"The first step is to figure out how to destroy this thing without getting ourselves killed," Evan decided.

"Whaddya say…. We split up?" Elmer suggested.

"Isn't that what happens in all the movies?" Ben asked nervously. "The main cast splits up, and it leads to all sorts of trouble?"

"Yes, but the thing is, the old Scooby-Doo show had about forty episodes," Caleb argued. "In each and every episode, they split up. Every time they split up, some important clue was discovered, and none of the characters died."

There was silence for a moment.

"I mean…. Good argument," Evan stated.

"This is definitive proof that we should split up," Marika decided.

"It is?" Cassie asked.

"Yeee," Elmer replied.

"Um, I don't know if this is a good idea!" Ben exclaimed.

"Let's see here….." Evan commanded. "I'll go with Cassie, Ben can go with Marika, Elmer can go with Caleb, and Mike can go all by himself."

"What about me?" asked Sammy.

"You don't need to go," Evan replied. "You can stay here!"

"It'd be more prudent for us to form two groups," Marika remarked. "One group of three, one of four. There were always two groups in Scooby-Doo."

"This is dumb!" Ben half-shouted.

Everyone else ignored him. Ben felt like an African nation during the scramble for Africa.

"I can help!" Sammy cried.

"The group of three can figure out how to blow up the ship, while the four go to cause a distraction," Cassie mused.

"Okay, we'll need our best fighters for the distraction group," Evan pondered, "though the other group will need some tough fighters as well…."

"Evan should definitely be in the Destroy group," Mike told them. "He's the only one here with any idea how all this alien technology works."

"Yes, which means the other Silencer here should go with the distraction group," Cassie decided.

"If you're talking about me…" Ben said threateningly.

"No, we're talking about Sammy," Marika said sarcastically.

"So I _do_ get to go?" Sammy asked eagerly.

"No, twerp," Evan replied. "Ben will lead the Distract group, and I'll lead the Destroy group. I want Marika in my group, since she has at least _some_ brains…."

"How about this," Ben suggested. "I stay here and protect Sammy."

"Now this _really_ sounds like Scooby Doo," Cassie muttered.

"No, Ben, you're leading the Distract group," Evan commanded. "I'll also take Mike, we might need to lift something heavy."

"What happened to the Distract group having the best fighters?" Ben asked.

"Hey, we're good enough fighters!" Caleb protested.

"I don't know where Caleb got the 'we're' in that," Elmer muttered. "He tends to just luck his way through things…."

"I'm a good fighter, too!" Sammy exclaimed.

"Sammy, you are staying here," Cassie said authoritatively.

"Plus, you're leaving me with _Cassie_?" Ben demanded. "She's a bit scary…."

"Exactly, she can scare the robots," Marika said.

"If she scared the robots, wouldn't they just run _away_ from us, towards you?" Ben asked. "Besides, I don't know if they even _have_ a fear complex…."

"It's settled," Evan stated. "Mike, Marika, and I will figure out how to take this thing out, while Ben, Cassie, Elmer and Caleb draw the androids away."

"What about me?" Sammy demanded.

"You stay here," Evan replied. Suddenly, he kicked Sammy into the airlock, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Now that _that's_ taken care of, let us disembark," Marika decided.

"Hold on, Evan," Cassie said. "These might be useful." She handed him two small metal balls, each with a small timer on them.

"You can attach one to something, set a timer, and leave before it explodes," Cassie told him. "You could use them to great effect."

"Ay, I could," Evan replied. He started to walk off with his group, before turning around and waving back at the rest of them.

"Good luck to you all!" Evan exclaimed. "I hope you do well!"

* * *

Ben, Cassie, Elmer, and Caleb all snoop-trooped down the dark, intimidating halls, with the ominous humming on all sides. Ben's flashlight continuously lit up random bits of Other tech: at one point, they even stumbled across a bunch of pods lined up.

"Wait, there are Silencer pods?" Cassie asked.

"Looks like it," Elmer replied.

"I didn't know they even _had_ Silencers in this world," Caleb remarked.

"This is very mysterious," Ben noted. "What if we just did our distraction right here?"

"Good idea, but how?" asked Elmer.

"We need to make sure that the Others know we're here, but they don't know about the others," Ben speculated.

"But you just said that the Others need to know about us!" Caleb stated confusedly.

"Not the Others, the others!" Ben said.

"The other Others!" Cassie said, having a lightbulb moment.

"I give up, let's just do the distraction," Ben moaned.

"Let's make a big loud noise!" Caleb yelled. Then, he started firing his gun everywhere.

"Duck!" Ben cried as the bullets ricocheted all around the metal ship. Everyone dropped to the floor as the bullets whizzed around above them.

"What in the [censored] was that all about?" Cassie asked angrily.

"It was a distraction," Caleb replied, as though that was obvious.

"Never mind that now, Caleb's called the entire army towards us!" Elmer complained.

"Get ready to fight!" Ben commanded in a panicked voice. While laying on the ground, everyone aimed their guns forward, but were careful to make sure not at walls.

"Somebody should aim at the back, in case they come from both sides," Cassie said.

"I'll do it!" Caleb and Ben both said at the same time. They looked at each other, and turned around.

"Ooo! I have a grand idea, we shoot at the walls close to the androids, they'll bounce off and hit the androids, it's easy!" Caleb said.

"It seems like it'll work, but what if they hit us?" Ben asked.

"That's why we'll duck!" Cassie said in agreement with Caleb.

"And the other Androids will catch the bullets for us, literally!" Elmer added. As he finished talking, the androids stormed into the room. Immediately, they all fell to the ground dead, after being cut down by the bullets that Caleb had launched into the air.

"I set that up!" Caleb exclaimed, jumping up.

"Never mind that now, more of them are coming soon!" Ben told them all, also jumping to his feet.

They heard the sound of running footsteps in the distance.

"Use the pods!" Elmer told them all. Everyone turned and ran towards the Silencer pods, wrenching open doors and jumping in before the androids could arrive.

Cassie looked out cautiously, seeing many androids marching into the room, guns out. Seeing no one, they began sweeping the room, searching for the concealed members of the TAAO Gang. Cassie pressed her back against the wall of pod, to avoid being spotted; an Android was mere inches from her.

Cassie could see Caleb in another pod adjacent to her's. He motioned to her, speaking in ASL.

 _I don't know ASL!_ Cassie mouthed to him emphatically.

 _I can't read lips!_ Caleb mouthed back. He began signing in ASL frantically.

" _So what do we do?"_ Cassie mouthed to him.

" _What?"_ Caleb signed to her.

" _Let's wait them out,"_ Cassie mouthed. Caleb began making a bunch of crazy signs to Cassie. They couldn't understand, so they just gave up and forgot it. One thing they could see was the Androids looking for them. They stayed in place for ten minutes, making everyone stressed and anxious. But not begin very smart, the androids finally left. Everyone waited a few more minutes, and then opened the pod doors.

"That was horrible!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Elmer said.

"I couldn't understand Cassie's lips moving," Caleb whispered.

"Well your sign language wasn't much help either," Cassie replied.

"Now what?" Elmer asked Ben.

* * *

While the Distract group went right, the Destroy group went left. Evan led the much more competent group along the halls, following the sound of the ominous humming. Evan had a hunch that it would take them right to the place where the ship was running.

"Hold on, I hear something," Mike remarked.

Sure enough, Evan could hear running footsteps. They all jumped aside, just in time for a massive group of androids to run past them.

"Where are _they_ going?" Marika asked quietly.

"Towards the Distract group," Evan replied. "It's all part of the plan."

"Hope they're alright," Mike said worriedly.

"There's no time to worry about them," Marika chastised. "We need to keep our ears open."

* * *

The next ship was ready to take off. Lena and Adisyn were on the ship, ready to travel to the Mothership, along with some more soldiers. This time, they were equipped with climbing gear and equipment, so that they could climb into the Mothership from below.

Lena had noticed something off about Adisyn. She was gazing at the Mothership, her eyes unfocused, and yet full of determination. This was not a look Lena usually saw in the timid and pacifistic Adisyn. This was the look of a warrior in quiet contemplation.

"Adisyn, is everything alright?" Lena asked tentatively.

"Hmm?" Adisyn said. "Oh- yes, of course."

The ship took off, gliding carefully through the sky at great speed, moving towards the bottom of the Mothership.

There was a moment of silence.

"Carter didn't make it," Adisyn said.

"Pardon?"

"I searched this city for other new arrivals," Adisyn replied. "The people of Area 51. The colony that survived so much. Carter said he was going to try to design a red pill and save them all."

Then Lena understood. Carter hadn't succeeded: the good people of Area 51 had met the same fate as the rest of the Matrix. Descension into non-being and de-atomization. The collapse of the Matrix defied the laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy. And so, Carter was gone. There would never be a bit of him to bury.

"It's all their fault," Adisyn told her. "The Others caused this. They caused all these deaths."

"I know," Lena said. "But now, we're gonna take our revenge. We're gonna destroy that ship and save this city."

Adisyn nodded grimly. Lena couldn't tell what she was thinking, but somehow, after that talk, she sensed that one member of their family would no longer be with them after the battle.

* * *

"We go after them, and keep them from reaching the other group!" Ben yelled.

"Oh ya, good idea," Cassie said, and started walking after the androids.

"Wait up!" Caleb cried, following after her. The other two soon followed as well.

Cassie stealthed after a large pack of androids, waiting for the opportunity to strike. Enclosed in her fist was a small metal sphere, which she had pulled from her gadget pouch. And now she rounded the corner, and could see the androids ahead.

"'Sup, [censored]?" she asked, chucking the sphere at them. They didn't even have time to react: the micro-bomb exploded, and a ball of heat blossomed out, mangling the robotic enemies and melting their metal frames.

Three more androids came around the corner, ready to avenge their fallen comrades. They turned on Cassie, expecting to have an easy fight: soon enough, however, Caleb and Ben joined her, firing their guns and reducing the enemies to scrap.

"It's time to revenge!" Elmer cried, firing his gun into the walls and destroying chunks of code. The others joined him, destroying the alien code that kept their enemy alive.

"Who knows how many Others we've killed already?" Ben asked.

"I dunno, but however many we _have_ killed, I think we've definitely got their friends attention!" Elmer told him.

Sure enough, another group of androids could be heard coming towards them from a distance.

"We should draw them towards the outer edge of the ship," Ben suggested. "I have a hunch that whatever Evan needs to destroy is at the center of the ship."

"Good idea," Cassie replied. As soon as she spoke, however, she was tackled to the ground.

An android had dropped from the ceiling: he hit the ground, landing on top of her and immediately spinning around to shoot her dead: Elmer took it out with a single shot to the head. But more were dropping down around them, surrounding them on all sides.

"Cassie, get up and run!" Ben commanded, taking off himself. Caleb and Elmer followed soon after. Cassie got up, running after them, but not before pulling out one of her last devices from her gadget pouch and throwing it over her shoulder.

As she ran, she looked backward to see a metal spiderweb branching all over the room she had just left. The androids were cutting through the metal ropes, but she'd delayed them temporarily.

"I thought we were trying to go _outwards_?" Caleb asked Ben.

"We were," Ben replied.

"Then why are we going _inwards_?" Caleb demanded.

"That…. Is an excellent question!" Ben replied, skidding to a halt. Ben and Caleb almost crashed into him. "Turn back!"

Ben charged forward, crashing right into Cassie.

"Go the other way, I've delayed them!" Cassie yelled.

"If we go the other way, we're just leading the androids towards Evan and his people," Ben told her.

"But if we go back, we'll have to face a giant horde of androids!" Cassie agued. The androids were nearly finished cutting the ropes as the spoke.

"The mission is more important," Caleb said. "Let's go back!"

The steel ropes snapped. The androids came flooding into the hallway, rushing at the group. Cassie fired a few shots into the horde, before running. The others followed her, and they continued running deeper into the ship.

* * *

"Holy [censored], what's all that noise?" Mike asked.

They could all hear the distance of stomping feet, as well as the voices of their friends and several gunshots in the distance. And the sounds were getting louder.

"We need to go," Evan told them all. "The distraction isn't working, and androids are coming our way. I need to save my wife."

"You can't!" Marika urged him. "We need you to help us with the technology."

"If we don't have you, we don't have your ears," Mike added on. "We need to find the source of the humming somehow."

"And, if we don't have you, that's a substantive amount of physical strength that we will lose out on!" Marika chimed (haha she chimed dead memes never die).

"Fine," Evan sighed, waving his arms a bit. "Fine. Have it your way. We'll keep going."

The others continued following the sound of humming. The noise was muffled by the noises of combat in the distance. The humming got louder and louder, and slowly, the air grew warmer and warmer.

Then, they walked through a door, into a large, dark, round room with a low ceiling. Green lights flickered around the walls in a circle, exposing bits of burning hot wires and bits of hardware. In the center of the strange room was a large terminal covered in small, quiet bolts of electricity running up and down the device (the electricity was the same green as the lights, incidentally). The humming sound was emanating from the device.

"I think we found the reactor," Mike told them.

* * *

Lena and Adisyn's ship pulled up under the Mothership, slowly rising up into the large shaft, getting closer to a good foothold.

Adisyn and Lena led the way out, jumping onto the catwalk at the edge of the tube. They were followed by a couple of soldiers, and more of them lined up to leave. That's when Lena heard a sound from above: a distant, ticking sound, accompanied by low rumbling. Then, suddenly, it became louder and louder….

A rod dropped down from above with massive speed: it crashed into the ship, blasting through it and crashing towards the ground. Lena screamed in fear as both soldiers standing next to her lost balance and fell: she and Adisyn managed to cling to the wall. Their skills gained from four years in the Matrix had saved them.

"Oh my [censored]ing God," Adisyn muttered. "That…. Was almost terrible."

"That _was_ terrible!" Lena said, clearly distraught. "All those poor people. It's lucky we got out of the ship when we did!"

"We need to be careful," Adisyn said. "Let's climb."

* * *

Evan advanced towards the reactor, followed by Mike and Marika. They surrounded it, and began inspecting it.

"If we take this thing out, what happens?" Mike asked curiously.

"I think that this device actually manages the fuel and energy of the ship," Evan speculated. "It's destruction would mean that the ship's fuel and energy supplies would malfunction and do things that they're not supposed to do. I suspect that the fuel and energy would try to find alternative paths to operate the ship, before colliding and causing an explosive reaction."

There was silence for a moment.

"Maybe you'd better explain it more simply," Mike suggested.

"It explodes, dip[censored]," Marika intoned. Mike cocked his head in a 'fair enough' sort of way.

Evan pulled the little bomb that Cassie had given him out of his pocket. He set a fifteen minute timer, and slapped it onto the reactor.

"Now, we blow this joint and head back to the airlock," Marika said.

"Right," Evan confirmed, turning to leave.

Suddenly, the door into the chamber was blown open: Ben ran inside, firing outwards. He was followed soon after by Cassie, Elmer, and Caleb. They slammed the door and threw their weight against it, holding the door shut.

"OH my god, what's going on?" Mike asked.

"Androids," Ben replied, as the door bumped open a little bit. Elmer aimed his revolver outside, and fired off a couple shots.

"The timer's ticking down," Evan told them. "We have fifteen minutes before this whole place blows up."

The door blasted open: Cassie, Elmer, and Caleb went flying backwards as androids stormed into the room. Ben had taken the impact and only stepped back a few paces: he fired into the horde, before dashing backwards. Evan and Mike unslung their rifles and joined the battle.

"We need to get out of here!" Marika informed them. "There's a door just this way."

"If we leave, the androids will destroy the bomb!" Caleb informed them.

"There's no cover in here!" Cassie complained, hiding behind Evan.

"Hold on," Elmer cried. "Cassie, do you have anymore tricks up your sleeve?"

"Just one," Cassie replied, pulling out a little cube. She threw it outwards, towards the androids: at once, a massive explosion rocked the room, and android parts flew everywhere. The TAAO Gang members dropped, and the shrapnel flew overhead, just barely missing the friends on the ground.

Evan rolled over, looking towards the door. All of the androids were gone, blasted apart by the explosion.

* * *

Lena opened the airlock door with her handprint, and stepped in, followed by Adisyn. They looked around the dark space, spotting Sammy sitting alone.

"Sammy!" Adisyn asked.

"What're you doing in here?" Lena demanded.

"They didn't take me to blow up the Mothership," Sammy complained. "They left me here."

"Well, that was stupid!" Adisyn said. "What if a bunch of androids had come over here? You wouldn't have been able to defend yourself!"

"Ya, it was stupid," Sammy replied. "I thought you couldn't get up here, Lena."

"I flew back over," Lena told him. "Now, we need to go find the others."

"The Others? We're in their house right now!" Sammy informed her.

"No, no, no, not the Others, the others!" Lena said.

"How many times has this happened to us so far?" Adisyn asked.

"Too many to count," Sammy replied. "Can we go now?"

* * *

Mike stood up, followed by the others (Not the Others. The others).

"That was easy," Ben said.

"No kidding, it's almost as if the fates want this CHAPTER of our lives to be over!" Cassie speculated.

"Ya!" Elmer agreed (this is why we have Elmer. He exists to say "Ya" at convenient times).

"I don't think it's as easy as you guys think," Evan piped up. Everyone turned to look at him, and saw him standing next to the bomb.

"What do you mean?" Marika asked.

"Evan, is everything okay?" Cassie said worriedly.

Evan was different: his eyes were glassy and blank, and all of his muscles had become strangely rigid. In one hand, his M16 hung loosely. In the other hand, he was squeezing a particularly long piece of shrapnel: a thin trickle of blood was dripping towards the ground.

He breathed heavily: looking around at all of his friends.

"Run," he told them all.

They hesitated.

"GO!" he commanded. Suddenly, Evan's head jerked, and he swung his M16 forward, firing it at Cassie's head.

Caleb dived sideways, tackling her to the ground, just as the bullets whizzed over them. Mike rushed forward, grabbing Evan's gun arm, and trying to pull it backwards: however, Mike had overestimated his strength, and Evan merely flung him away, before raising the shrapnel and stabbing it down into the time bomb. Slowly, the countdown faded away, and the two broken halves of the bomb fell to the ground, useless.

"[censored]," Elmer yelled, firing his pistol towards Evan's gun. The rifle flew out of his hand, skittering across the ground. Evan ran after the gun, and Mike took the opportunity to jump onto Evan's back. Evan jumped backwards, crushing Mike under his weight: Marika and Caleb ran forward and started trying to pin down Evan's arms. Evan lifted them both above his head, fling them into the ceiling. Mike slid out from under Evan, grabbing his hair and slinging him across the room.

"Run!" Ben commanded, snatching up Evan's gun. The TAAO Gang poured out of the room, sprinting down the hallway. Ben picked up the door and propped it up.

"This won't slow him down for long," Ben warned them.

'What… what's gotten into him?" Cassie asked as she ran. "He's risked so much to protect us, to lead us…. What's happening?"

"That's not him," Mike told her. "That's what's inside him."

And that's when the TAAO Gang remembered what Evan truly was: for so long, they had taken for granted that Evan was related to the aliens that had destroyed their families. But it was now that it clicked: Evan was like Vosch. He was one of them. He shared their thoughts, their memories, and now, their purpose.

"Mother[censored]er," Marika muttered.

"But after all he's been through to help us?" Caleb said. "It seems weird that just now he would have a change of heart."

"Remember," Elmer reminded them, "that Evan's been a lot of places with us. He's helped us take down Vosch at the Others' Earth-bound base. He's helped us destroy robots and defeat digital programs sent to hunt us down. But he's never been in a place like this with us. We've never been with him when he's surrounded by his own kind. I bet he's been feeling them all along."

"You're saying that he had a change of heart because we came across his own species?" Cassie said.

"No," Elmer replied. "I'm saying that he had a change of heart because those creatures came across him."

The implications of Elmer's words sank into everyone's minds as they ran.

* * *

"Gunshots!" Adisyn exclaimed. Sure enough, in the distance, they could hear the sounds of a couple sporadic shots, and then running feet on a metal surface.

"We need to go help!" Sammy cried.

"We can't just charge in there without a plan!" Lena admonished him.

"Of course we can!" Sammy replied.

"Isn't the entire reason you wanted me to come was so I could make plans for you guys?" Lena asked.

"Yep, but now is not the time for planning," Adisyn said. "Now is the time for action."

* * *

Ben was leading the way. Thank god he was, for if anyone else was, they would be dead.

When he rounded the corner, a weight slammed into him, sending him flying backwards. Ben turned around, seeing Evan coming at him with both hands. Ben swung out wildly with his fists, impacting with Evan's face. Evan staggered backwards, but rallied immediately.

"Run!" Ben commanded. "Get Sammy and escape! I'll try to blow this thing up!" Then, Evan threw Ben down the hall, and his breath was knocked out.

"We can't leave you, Ben!" Mike replied.

"JUST GO!" Ben screamed, standing up and raising his fists.

Cassie took off, leading the group. They all ran out, except for Marika.

"I love you!" she yelled.

"I know! Just run!" Ben ordered, rushing forward and swinging a fist.

* * *

Adisyn pulled open a door, almost getting run over by Cassie.

"Cassie!" Lena asked. "What's going on?"

"Evan… he…. He…"

"Gone psycho," Mike muttered, as everyone else poured in.

"Just randomly," Marika cried. "We had a bomb set and everything! We were gonna be able to blow this thing up! He [censored]ed everything up!"

"Wait!" Adisyn demanded. "Evan turned on you?"

"Yes!" Elmer said. "Ben's fighting him right now. We need to figure out how to blow this thing up and save Ben."

"Alright, alright," Lena said. "Where's the ship's weak point?"

"Follow the humming sound," Mike told her. "It leads right to it."

"Okay, we're going that way," Lena replied. "We need to figure out how to take this thing out with _out_ a bomb."

* * *

Evan hit Ben round the head; Ben turned his fall into a kick, spinning around and hitting Evan in the side. Evan recoiled, and Ben pressed his advantage, hitting Evan again and knocking him to the floor.

Evan swung his feet around, catching Ben from beneath him and forcing him to topple to the ground. Ben hit the metal floor, and Evan swung himself on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Evan raised his fist and started pummeling the pinned Ben to the ground.

Ben swung both of his feet upwards, pincering Evan. He then rolled forward, and pushed upwards with both his feet. Evan countered by standing up, and both of them were pulled to their feet again.

Ben's body ached like never before, and Evan had a large gash on his forehead. Blood was running down the sides of his face, and a bit was trickling into his eye.

"C'mon, that the best you got?" Ben called teasingly. "Show me your strength."

Evan seemed to square himself, before flexing his enhanced muscles and approaching. Ben readied himself for another bout.

* * *

"This is the place?" Lena asked.

"Clearly, or else we wouldn't have taken you here," Mike responded. They were standing in the wide room, covered in android shrapnel. In the center was the terminal that the Destroy Group had tried to destroy before.

Lena walked over to examine the device, while the others followed behind.

"Evan said that this device links up to the power and fuel supplies of the Mothership," Caleb informed her.

"If that's true, then destruction of it will mean the instantaneous and sure death of anyone aboard the ship due to an electrical surge," Lena speculated. "Then, the ship will probably blow up because of the fuel stores malfunctioning. But how to destroy it?"

Lena spent the next couple minutes looking over the core, inch by inch. Soon enough, however, she exhaled deeply and said "Ah."

"What is it?" Adisyn and Sammy asked in unison.

"It's an on-off switch," Lena said. "The switch determines whether or not the core will allow fuel and power to pass through it. I suppose they must turn off the fuel and the power while in space, and simply use the steering mechanism to get where they need to go."

"Wouldn't that just destroy the ship while it's out in space?" Elmer asked.

"No," Lena replied. "Switching off the fuel in space would most likely cause the fuel to merely cease moving, because of the lack of gravity. Switching it off in orbit would cause the electrical surge and failure of the fuel system. The Mothership would be destroyed."

There was silence for a moment.

"In theory, that is," Lena followed up.

"If you're right…." Marika said.

"Someone has to stay behind," Adisyn whispered.

* * *

Ben and Evan had been continuously fighting for the past several minutes. By now, both of them were severely battered and tired out, even for Silencers. Ben felt himself weakening, and Evan looked much more tired than he was previously.

Evan stumbled forward, swinging out a fist, which Ben blocked. Ben aimed a kick at Evan's stomach, which was easily dodged. Both of them jumped at each other, colliding mid air, and each of them fell to the ground.

Ben started crawling towards him, but it was nothing compared to Evan, who jumped right back up. He hit one of his pectorals and charged as Ben. Ben decided to be a little creative here. He kicked his legs up the second Evan was upon him. It hit Evan in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. He fell down on his hands and knees, wheezing and gasping for air.

"Yield!" Ben told him, pointing at Evan. Even started up at him.

"Ben?" He asked quietly and slowly.

"Yes, yes!" Ben exclaimed quietly. Evan slowly got up, with a face of desperation and confusion.

"Come back to us," Ben pleaded. "Your not one of them, you one of us, you'll always be!" he said with outstretched arms, walking towards Ben. Evan was right next to him, he took Ben's left arm.

"I'm back," Evan said. "For revenge!" With that, he violently twisted Ben's arm, breaking it.

"AUGGHH!" Ben howled in pain and he fell to the ground, clutching his arm.

"You and your team are weak," Evan taunted him. But it was the Others speaking through him. "You have no chance," He said as he walked around the hopeless Ben.

"I have…." Ben began. "As much chance as anyone!" He swung his leg around, making Evan topple over. Then he grabbed a piece of metal on the floor, and with his good arm, began hitting Evan with it, but making sure to not kill him. He was on an angry rampage. Hitting with the metal, and kicking with his legs.

"Yield!" Ben exclaimed, pointing the sharp end at his end. Evan stared a long gaze at him, with fire in his eyes.

"NO!" he said.

* * *

There was another long silence.

"We haven't thought this all the way through," Mike interrupted. "Lena, is there a way to rig something up that will trigger the lever _after_ we had left?"  
"If I had more resources, yes," Lena replied. "But I don't. All of our gadgets have been used up. I simply don't see a way that that could happen."

"Do the Others have any timed explosives on this ship that we could use?" Sammy asked.

"The only thing I can think of are those weird green bombs that look like eyes," Caleb remarked.

"Won't work," Cassie said sadly. "I remember when they blew up Camp Ashpit with one of those. The fuse isn't nearly long enough, it took about fifteen seconds for it to go off last time."

"Fifteen seconds isn't long enough for us to get out," Lena whispered. "I'm sorry. I don't see another way."

There was yet another pause.

"I'll stay," Mike offered, stepping forwards.

"No, Mike, you have a family," Elmer said. "I don't. No one can lose me if I die."

"You're wrong," Mike replied. "We're all family here."

"No, we're not," Adisyn interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Marika asked.

Adisyn turned to face everyone else.

"Ever since I've known you, you guys have had something that I could never experience," Adisyn told them. "I don't know what it was, or why I never felt like I was truly one of you. It might be the fact that I wasn't there when you destroyed the first Mothership. Maybe it was because I was too close to Carter and the people of Area 51. Or that I haven't gone through as many hardships as you. But you guys were always separate, distant, and disconnected from me."

She paused for a moment, before continuing.

"I want you to be my family, I really do," Adisyn said. "But there's only one way that can happen. I need to go through the same thing that you guys went through. I need to destroy a Mothership. Only then will I be a true member of your family."

"Adisyn, you don't have to do this," Mike said.

"Yes, I do," Adisyn replied. "Please. Just give me this chance."

"No, no, we don't leave anyone behind!" Elmer said, holding his finger up. Adisyn put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not staying to die, I'm staying to put an end to all this, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." she said.

"You are a part of this family, but I see no other way," Lena told her, looking at her with tears in her eyes.

There was a pause.

"Let me know when you guys are far enough away from the ship," Adisyn commanded. "Then, I'll blow this thing to kingdom come!"

* * *

"Good luck Adi, and don't fail," were the last words of Sam Sullivan as they charged out of the room. No one could look back, not now. They were afraid, that if they did, they would change their minds.

"Keep your heads up and your [censored] down, it's go time!" Mike said as he led the way through the ship.

"Do we even know they way?" Caleb asked (dead memes never die).

"Of course I do, I have a photographic memory," Lena told him.

"But first things first," Cassie said. "We need to save Ben and Evan."

"Towards the shouts and screams!" Elmer said, fist in the air.

* * *

Ben went in for another jab with the metal stick, but as he was about to hit Evan, Evan grabbed it with his hand. Ben strained to push, and Evan strained to pull. But because he had both his arms available, his strength won over. He shoved Ben back, and took the rod. Ben tumbled head over heels and crashed into the wall. Evan slowly stood up. He was super bruised and bloody. There were scratches all over his face, there was so much blood now, his face was almost as red as Mars. Ben was even more injured, just on the inside more.

"This, ends, now!" Evan said. He hurled the rod at Ben. It shot like a bullet toward Ben, until he felt a piercing pain in his gut. He looked down to see the rod, stuck in his gut. Evan stared at him, smiling a cruel smile. He slowly walked over, as Ben tried to take it out. But it had pierced both sides, making two holes in his body. Evan was right over him now, he grabbed Ben's face, squeezing his cheeks.

"You have tried and failed, like so many of your kind," Evan taunted. "They continued attempts, and eventually succeeded, but not you, and not your race, not any longer!" Even seized the rod with one hand, and tore it out of Ben's gut like a stick in ice cream.

Ben yelled in pain as veins, blood, and even parts of bone came out. Ben fell to the floor.

"Prepare to die!" Evan said as he raised the rod above Ben's heart.

* * *

"Evan, don't!" Cassie exclaimed as the gang turned into the room. They saw a nearly dead Ben on the floor, under a killer Evan, about to kill Ben.

"You're too late!" Evan yelled as he turned his head, but the rod stayed where it was.

"I can shoot him and…" Mike began.

"No!" Marika said as she put Mike's gun down. "It'll kill them both!"

"You have no choice… but to watch your friend die!" Evan yelled as he turns back to face Ben.

"Please ...Evan," Ben pleased, looking up at him.

"I'll do it then!" Elmer declared as he stepped forward, gun drawn.

"Elmer no!" Marika said, her hand reached for the gun, but it was too late. He fired one shot at Evan's hand. It blew his hand right off, sending the rod flying. He clutched his hand, until Elmer fired five more shots. Each one hit one of his limbs, two more to the arm and three to the leg. Evan fell backwards in agony. Everyone couldn't believe what they saw.

"Caleb, help me get Ben, Mike, you grab Evan, everyone else, go!" Elmer ordered them. Caleb got Ben's arms, and Elmer his legs.

"Make sure to get his hand," Cassie told them, visibly shaking. Marika bent down and picked it up; cold chills ran up her spine.

Ben was pale, almost like pure white paper. Blood was gushing out of the wound in his abdomen, dwarfing his other injuries. Evan had gone completely unconscious, his bullet wounds like marred pockets all over his body. He seemed to be fighting for his very life.

"Holy S that's a ton of blood," Caleb said as they picked him up.

"Did you just say Holy S?" Elmer asked.

"Yeah, that way it's nicer," he replied.

"C'mon guys, stop goofing!" Mike said, who was already and the door. Caleb and Elmer went as fast as they could through the door.

They dragged the two Silencers down the halls of the Mothership, surrounded by the eerie humming of the reactor that they would soon see destroyed. The green shelves were seeming to flicker faster and brighter, almost like the alien entities within knew what was soon going to happen.

"I've already called for pickup," Lena told them all as they arrived at the airlock. "There should be a ship waiting to pick us up."

"Let's hope, I don't know how long Ben can hold out," Marika worried.

"He'll make it," Caleb assured her.

* * *

Adisyn was standing alone in the reactor room. She felt in her body something knew: a dark feeling of hopelessness. She'd lost everything she loved to the Others. She'd only traveled with the TAAO Gang for escape from the horrors of her world. Now, her regret at leaving Carter to die alone was stronger in her mind than her will to survive. This was now her chance for revenge against the beings that killed him.

Her comm was still silent. The lever was in front of her, ready to be pulled at any moment. The reactor was humming. The room was deathly quiet.

Then, in a flash of green, a face appeared in front of her. Adisyn gasped, stumbling back as the screen in front of her was filled with the face of one of them.

"Adisyn," the face said, "I've been watching you."

"What- who are you?" she asked.

"I am one of Us," the face replied. "I'm not here to kill you. I just want to talk."

"I won't talk with you!" Adisyn shouted in reply. "You and your people killed Carter!"

"Or that's what you've been told," the face said. "There is so much that you do not know."

Words remained unspoken for a few moments.

"Adisyn, you've always been somewhat distant from the rest of your group," the face stated. "I've seen you try to be a friend and family member to the others. But they are a family, and when they are together, their loss is muffled by the friendship they share with one another.

"But you are different. You've lost everyone you loved. You've made a mistake, and in leaving your loved one, you have forsaken your humanity. Now, you want revenge against the people you _think_ killed your family and friends."

"What are you talking about?" Adisyn asked, though she was now more curious than angry.

"When we invade planets, choice natives sometimes join us, becoming pure consciousness, existing forever and painlessly within computers and leaving behind the limitations of their bodies," the face told her. "These new members often bring with them new skills that allow them to rise to greater heights than the rest of us.

"I should know, for I am one myself."

That's when Adisyn heard a voice coming from her comm. It was Mike.

"Adisyn, we're ready," Mike said. "Blow it up."

"Listen to him not!" the face commanded. "If you join us, you will become great and powerful, with numerous beings under your supervision, and armies of androids at your beck and call. Even now, we are releasing the last of our androids onto your Earth, and leaving this planet for home."

"Adisyn, what are you doing?" Lena demanded. "Who are you talking to?"

"We can tell you everything you need to know about the people who really killed your loved ones," the face cried. "Don't you want to know? Join us, and we can teach you about this universe!"

"C'mon, Adisyn," she whispered to herself. "Don't listen."

"We're counting on you, Adisyn," Sammy said through the comm.

"I can do this!" Adisyn screamed, walking forward.

"NO!" the face screamed, and Adisyn pulled out her pistol and shot the screen, causing everything to shatter. She passed over the shattered glass. Placed her hand on the lever. Gripped hard.

"This is for Carter," she muttered, before pulling the switch.

* * *

The TAAO Gang aboard the Zionite aircraft was blinded by the bright flash of light from where the Mothership was floating above them. The explosion caused a wave of heat to wash over them, bathing them in a temporary sense of burning. Then, when they looked back to the sky, they saw nothing but blackness.

All around the town, androids shut down simultaneously. In the middle of firefights with Zionite fighters, they toppled over, the light gone from their eyes. A rod, in the middle of falling, swerved wildly and crashed into a distant patch of land.

Somewhere else, a great cosmic distance away from Earth, someone watched as the casualties of The War shot up massively. The death toll was destroying his race, and they only had one more Mothership left.

If they were ever going to successfully conquer Earth, the TAAO Gang would need to be destroyed first.

End of Chapter 25


	24. After the Battle (short)

Adisyn's funeral took less than a week to plan.

Of course, Ben and Evan couldn't attend. They were in the hospital, where Marika and Cassie were trying to find out what would become of their husbands.

"They'll both make a full recovery from their wounds, but it will take time," the doctor told them. "We were able to reattach Mr. Walker's hand, and the bleeding has stopped. However, I'm afraid that Mr. Walker may not be the same again."

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked, a feeling of horror filling her mind.

"He was so seriously damaged during the battle that the enhancements he and Mr. Parish both enjoyed have crashed," the doctor said. "Mr. Walker will still have all the physical prowess and mental agility that he was physically capable of mustering, but his strength will no longer be of supernatural quality."

"What about Ben?" Marika asked.

"Mr. Parish's enhancements are intact," the doctor replied. "Mr. Walker should be out of the hospital in a couple weeks. Mr. Parish will heal much faster due to his enhancements, and will be allowed to leave much sooner."

"May we see them?" Marika requested.

"Are they awake?" Cassie asked.

"Yes and yes," the doctor answered, opening the door and allowing them to go in.

Ben was wide awake, and he waved cheerfully when Cassie and Marika walked in. Evan was just lying there, his eyes open. He looked haunted.

"Hey," Marika said quietly.

"Oh, hi guys!" Ben exclaimed. "How've you been?"

"Well enough, how are you and Evan?" Cassie asked.

"I'm fine," Ben replied. "Evan is…. Well… he's not at his best."

"It's all my fault," Evan whispered. "I killed her."

"It wasn't you who did that," Ben told him. "It was the Others."

"How could I let them control me like that?" Evan asked. "Now, one of us is dead."

"Evan, you need to stop beating yourself up over this," Cassie said. "You're just driving yourself deeper into a slump. Nothing that happened up there is your fault."

"Obviously," Marika seconded.

"But, if I had just fought a little harder against myself, maybe I could've…."  
"You could've nothing, you did your best, and you're lucky Ben didn't kill you," Cassie replied.

"I'm lucky he didn't kill me, when you get back, tell Elmer I'm grateful for his superior shot," Ben told them.

"Will do, my love," Marika replied.

"I'm grateful he shot, too," Evan said, "or Ben would probably be dead as well. I'm glad the doctors were able to reattach my hand. That's the second time I've lost a hand."

There was silence for a moment.

"What time are you heading to the funeral?" Ben asked solemnly.

"Two hours until we need to head over and set up," Cassie replied. "Elmer and Caleb said that they would get there an hour before the rest of us."

* * *

Elmer and Caleb had got there an hour before the rest of them.

The TAAO Gang had picked a nice venue for the funeral. They were using an old theater that was used for school plays and things and owned by the state. Mike was the one who discovered the vast funds available to each member of the TAAO Gang, issued as the combined payment for four years of Zionite military service, with additional funds that came with medals that each member had received one way or another. Adisyn's funds had been divided up between the other members, as well as the funds issued to the late Justin, Allison, Dumbo, Poundcake, and Edward. Mike paid a bit out of his account to rent the building.

"When's the other food supposed to arrive?" Caleb asked. He was wheeling out another circular table in the reception room.

"In another hour, everyone should be showing up with their stuff," Elmer replied.

"What else do we need to do here before they arrive?" Caleb demanded.

"You need to keep rolling out tables, while I figure out some last-minute logistics,"Elmer said. He walked over to a telephone and dialed a number. The phone rang a few times before someone answered.

"Father Amadeus speaking," a calm, meditative voice said.

"Hi, Father, this is Elmer Gates, from the TAAO Gang," Elmer said. "I was just wondering whether it might be more convenient for some of us to pick you up on the way to the funeral?"

Caleb saw Elmer pausing and listening.

"Wonderful, I'll call Mike and Lena," Elmer said. "They should be over in about a half-hour."

* * *

Lena and Mike were over in a half hour.

They walked towards Father Amadeus's house; it was a rather nice…. Er ... concrete block with a door in it. As it turns out, houses are extremely rare in Zion. Mike walked up and knocked on the door.

They waited a moment awkwardly, before the door swung open.

Father Amadeus was in his early forties, with iron grey hair and a small goatee. He was dressed in black robes, and carrying a catholic Bible in his hands. Upon his nose sat a pair of rickety-looking spectacles.

"You must be Michael and Lena," he said, stepping out and shaking both of their hands. "It's wonderful to meet you, though I wish it was under different circumstances. I am sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, father," Lena replied.

"It's very kind of you to drive me to the funeral," Father Amadeus said, as Mike opened the door into the car.

"I'll have you know that we aren't driving you back," Mike told him with a wink.

"Very funny, Mike," Lena said sarcastically. She got into the driver's seat, as Mike got into the back. She turned the key in the lock, and headed off down the street towards the theater.

"I assume you've picked readings?" Father Amadeus asked.

"We have picked one," Lena replied.

"Only one?" Father Amadeus said.

"Only one, though we all contributed to it in some way," Lena told him. "Sammy's reading it. He's probably practicing right now."

* * *

Sammy was practicing right now.

Elmer and Caleb could hear him in the next room, reading. It was a beautiful thing, a piece of prose that they had all written together. It was meant to honour, uplift, and say good-bye to Adisyn, and they both knew it would do a great job.

The door to the room opened, and Cassie and Marika came in, carrying two plates of sandwiches and a single bowl of chips.

"Welcome," Caleb said. "Just put the food on the table over there."

The two women walked to a long table at the head of the reception room, adding the food to what was already there (Caleb and Elmer had brought a veggie tray and a fruit platter).

"We're gonna put out the centerpieces," Cassie decided, as she picked up a vase of flowers and put it down on a table.

"Mike and Lena should be arriving shortly," Marika stated.

* * *

Lena pulled up ten minutes later. They all got out and walked through the not packed parking lot. Not many others knew of Adisyn, so no one else was there yet except for the gang. People would probably show up later, since it was the TAAO Gang, and, ya know, they were famous. They saved the whole world, like twice, maybe three times even.

They walked into the theater and saw everyone working hard to set up. There was a table with lots of food, and everything looked nice and cleaned up.

"Wow, this place looks, amazing!" Lena exclaimed.

"Huh?" Marika said looking around before she saw them. "Oh hi guys, glad to know you could make it. Even though I already knew you could make it."

"Who's the tall guy?" Caleb asked as he and Elmer finished setting up the banner.

"This is Father Amedeus," Mike said, holding his hands out to him.

"Thank you for coming sir," Cassie said as she shook his hand. "I hope you preach well."

"Yes, I know how hard it can be to lose someone close, so I will make it memorable," he replied.

"We have a good reading planned," Elmer told him.

"So I've heard," Amadeus replied. "Who's reading it?"

"Sammy's practicing right now," Cassie said.

"I need to speak with him shortly," Amadeus stated.

"He's just in the next room that way," Marika informed him.

Father Amadeus nodded and headed that way. Everyone else stood around awkwardly.

"Do you know who else is coming?" Mike asked.

"Morpheus said he was coming, with Zhantov," Lena replied.

"Since we're famous, I'm pretty sure there will be more randos from around town," Marika said.

"That's almost certain," Caleb said.

"But I believe we're even more famous!" Elmer said.

"Thirty minutes until the ceremony starts," Cassie stated. "If anyone else is coming, they should be here soon. Let's go into the auditorium."

* * *

Thirty minutes after they had entered the auditorium, the room was packed. The theater was large and wide, and the stage had a long black curtain hanging over it. The ascending rows of seats were full of people from all around Zion who had heard of the death of one of their great war heroes. The TAAO Gang was seated in the first row, all dressed in black. Black blazers, ties, undershirts, pants, socks, shoes. Everything was dark. It was so strange: they were so empty of color, so unlike Adisyn. In a way, it sort of symbolized how her absence left the group much darker than it should've been.

Sammy was waiting backstage to be called up. He was clutching a script tightly in his hands. Each member of the TAAO Gang had concealed a part of their grief in this piece of paper. Father Amadeus was standing just a few feet away, holding in his hands the Bible that he would be reading from.

Father Amadeus checked his watch.

"It's time," he said quietly. "I'll call you up in a few minutes. You're gonna do great." With that, the tall man pushed open the door and stepped out onto the stage.

The TAAO Gang in the stands fell silent as they watched the black curtain roll backwards, to reveal Father Amadeus standing at a podium. The auditorium immediately went quiet.

"We are gathered here today to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of a dear friend and hero, who we've lost in service of this city," Father Amadeus recited solemnly. "Adisyn gave up her life six days ago, when are city found itself under assault by external forces. Adisyn proved herself to be one of the bravest among us.

"Her close friends and family in the audience told me that she didn't want too big of a funeral," Amadeus continued, as he looked across the massive crowd. A few chuckles from the crowd could be heard. "This funeral doesn't necessarily meet that criteria, but I'm sure she'd be glad to know that her sacrifice was not in vain, and that there are still people here to attend her funeral.

"Today, we only have one reading," Amadeus said. "It was written by all of her family together, one meant to communicate everything Adisyn meant to them and to the rest of us. If we could, at this moment, have Samuel Sullivan come up and read it…."

Sammy gulped. It was time.

The people in the stands were dead silent as they saw a young, nine year-old boy walking towards the podium, carrying a sheet of paper. Father Amadeus placed down a small stool in front of the podium, and Sammy climbed up.

He laid the piece of paper across the smooth, wooden surface. And began to read.

"When we first met Adisyn, her life was devoted to pursuit of survival, not just for herself, but for hundreds of people, all of whom she loved. But when she was given a choice between survival for herself, and helping others, she decided to follow us to war, and to escape from a trap that was slowly closing in.

"I saw it in her, merely hours before her death. The guilt in her mind left her in no doubt as to what she had to do. By leaving, she may have doomed her love to death. And at that moment, she realized that saving him was impossible, and now, the only thing left to do was to exact vengeance.

"That is why she walked to her death, and allowed herself to die for all of us. Her spirit of revenge saved us all. And that may sound harsh to you, but it is the reason that you are alive now. If she had stayed behind to try and save her love and her people, and had failed, who would've had to die to save us all?

"Death is simply the next step towards something greater. And even if you don't believe it, you can see the evidence in the way that people like her throw themselves in front of bullets for complete strangers. These aren't people who have given up. They are people who are moving on and above the rest of us.

"When a choice comes, between your death to save others, and others' death to save you, think of Adisyn, the woman who lost everything and turned that loss into a weapon. Take your sorrow and make it into something you can use. Don't let yourself fall apart and lose it. Or, move beyond your sadness, and become a new, better person.

"Thank you, Adisyn."

Sammy stepped off the stool, and speed-walked back to the backstage. He left a blank sort of void where his small, childish voice had been before. Then, slowly but surely, the room broke into heartfelt applause. Cheers went up from the gathering, a cheer of sympathy and understanding. The hearts of each member of the TAAO Gang swelled with pride over what Adisyn, the most inconspicuous of them all, provoked among crowds of thousands in death. Truly, she had taught this world a lesson.

* * *

"Sammy, you did so well!" Cassie exclaimed afterwards, as she gave him a big hug.

"That's not my name," Sammy replied.

Taken aback, Cassie looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"My name is Sam, or Samuel," he stated. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I've been through more than anyone else my age. It's time for me to be mature, and if people are still calling me Sammy, I won't ever reach that stage."

There was silence for a moment.

"Sam," Cassie said, "I'll call you whatever you want. It's your choice. But remember, you started as Sammy, and you'll always be Sammy in each of our hearts. I hope you can forgive us, but the memories are too strong for us to let that go."

"I understand," Sam answered. "But at least on the outside, can I just be Sam?"

"Of course," Cassie said. "If that is what you want."

 **End of Part Two**


	25. Seven Years Later

The year is 2030. Seven years ago, the TAAO Gang, a group built up in the minds of the locals after a five year disappearance, returned from the Matrix and destroyed the ship of an invading alien force- though not without a cost.

Now, the city of Zion has risen to the surface of a reborn world. The black fog blotting out the sun has been removed, and the light shines through. Terraforming technology has turned the formerly dead Zion landscape into a lush forest, surrounding the skyscrapers and suburbs of Zion. Five colony cities surround Zion, within the land formerly known as Israel or Palestine.

A large hill many miles away from Zion overlooks all this. If you were to take a two-lane road out of Zion and drive for sixty minutes, you would ascend many meters and arrive at a gate. A sign on the gate would say Walker Farm and Homestead. On the other side of it, there would be fields of wheat and corn, orchards of apples and pears, a large barn full of livestock, and other exotic crops. If you entered this field and followed the two-lane road a bit farther, you would reenter the forest. After driving for a couple miles, you would arrive at an impressive farmhouse. Through a window on the first floor, you would see a woman in her late twenties, with her children, baking cookies.

Twenty-eight year-old Cassie Sullivan and her three children, Lisa, Oliver, and Lauren are standing in their kitchen, devouring a bowl of raw cookie dough with large spoons.

"Now, kids, make sure not to eat all of it, or we won't have any to make actual cookies out of!" Cassie told them, shoving another bite into her mouth and cradling baby Lauren in her arms.

"But mom, it's better when it isn't cooked!" the seven-year old Lisa protested, taking another bite.

"Ya, I'd never get this full up on _your_ burnt cookies!" five year-old Oliver intoned.

"Hey!" Cassie said playfully, spooning the last bite into her mouth. "Whoops! It's all gone!"

All the kids laughed (except Lauren, she's a baby).

"Alright, it's about bedtime, everyone go take a bath," Cassie told them. "I'll be there to check on you soon."

"Aw, but mom!" Oliver complained.

"I'm older than Oliver, I should get to stay up later!" Lisa cried.

"Please!" they both said at the same time.

"No!" Cassie ordered. "Go get clean!"

The two kids moped out of the room, looking disappointed.

Cassie walked down to the nursery and put down the baby (who, incidentally, was already asleep). Then, she went back to the living room, waiting for Evan to return.

After an hour, the front door opened, and Evan came in, still in his black uniform. Evan was a member of the ZPPO (Zion Paramilitary Police Organization), a substitute for the police, founded by a group of volunteer civilians, before it became an official government agency.

"Evan! You're back early," Cassie exclaimed.

"I hope that surprise is pleasant," Evan said mischievously, as Cassie embraced him.

Since Evan lost Silencer enhancements, he had been working out like crazy. He'd managed to hold on to a good chunk of strength, but he wasn't nearly as strong as his former self, nor was he as fast or resilient. His brain was still relatively sharp, and he could run faster than most, but his abilities were no longer supernatural.

"How's Israel?" she asked.

Israel Haddock was the chief of the ZPPO, and he was good friends with the Walker family.

"He's doing well for the most part," Evan replied.

"That's good," Cassie said. "Wasn't his wife sick recently?"

"She's better now," Evan told her. "Is Sam back yet?"

"Of course not," she replied. "He's sixteen years old _and_ it's a Friday night. Did you honestly think he'd be back yet?"

"I'd think you would've cracked down on all this partying he's been getting up to," Evan stated.

"For goodness' sake, I'm his sister, not his mother!" Cassie told him. "It's not up to me what he gets up to anymore. He can fend for himself."

* * *

Sam was at a school party in the gym of Zion School of Arts and Sciences. Dressed in a white blazer and tie, and black slacks, he contrasted with the dark room. Setting off his look was his perfectly trimmed and styled black hair and shockingly red cortage. His table was in the center of the room, a spot where he could easily reach the Song Request Booth, the food stands, and the exit. He was with his best friend, Xiu-Ying, and his new girlfriend Vanessa.

Xiu-Ying was a Manchurian kid who shared most of Sammy's classes. He had a narrow face, short hair, and a pair of perfectly circular glasses. He was kind of short, standing at only 5' 8". At this moment, he was dressed in a grey dress shirt and black slacks. They'd met when they were both eleven years old, and Sam had told him many great stories from the TAAO Gang's past adventures. He was apparently related to the old Chinese emperors, and held the title of heir (a lot of good that'll do him). Most importantly, he was a master of martial arts, able to deal with most attackers easily.

Sam had met Vanessa the previous month, at a Valentine's Day event. She was tan, with long, chocolate brown hair, and was about an inch shorter than Sam (she was 5' 10"). She was wearing a green, baggy shirt, and a pair of jeans. She and Samwere holding hands under the table, as "Never Gonna Give You Up" played over the speakers.

"Man, this is the life!" Sam exclaimed contentedly, eating a cookie with his one free hand.

"Yeah, the life," mumbled the very girlfriend-less Xiu-Ying.

"Don't worry," Vanessa comforted him. "Soon enough, I will give you a couple lessons on how the brains of girls work."

"I should be giving those lessons," Sam chimed. "I know more about girls than most girls."

"Sure you do, nerd," a voice said. Sam, Vanessa, and Xiu all turned to see the resident bully, Garrett, standing there. Garrett had strawlike blonde hair, a round, plump face, a build like a sack of freshly baked bread, and a similar mannerism.

"Oh, it's you!" Sam exclaimed joyfully, standing up. "I love bullying bullies!"

"Ha, easier said than done, nerd," the sack of bread- I mean, Garrett replied, squeezing his squishy fist menacingly. "We're gonna play a game!"

"Oh yeah?" Sam said. "What's that?"

"I'm gonna roast you," Garrett threatened. "You are repugnant, you twig!"

Everyone around them went 'ooh'. That roast really made Sam wonder how Garrett became a bully in the first place.

"Alright," Sam replied. "You wanna hear my roast?"

"Bring it on, flavorless watermelon!" Garrett exclaimed.

"Just by looking into your eyes, I can tell that you're just a bum who spends sixteen out of twenty-four hours in his basement, playing video games, forgetting to do his homework and constantly needing to make excuses. He'll never get a girlfriend, because his face is completely busted and his belly hangs over his belt and down to his knees. He's about as intelligent as a hunk of raw beef, and he knows it!"

* * *

 **The Next Morning….**

Lena and Mike owned an orphanage to the south of Zion. Like the Walker Homestead, it was on a hill (though not as high of a hill), and it was about an hour out of Zion. However, this orphanage wasn't quite like the average orphanage. Lena and Mike were cultured, and built their orphanage in the middle of a traditional Chinese Garden…. Which was built in the middle of a traditional Japanese garden.

"The kids doing their chores yet?" Lena asked Mike.

Mike had gone a bit to spare over the past seven years. When Evan lost his supernatural strength, he dedicated himself to restrengthening. However, Mike had lost most of his physique: he had a paunch, and had lost weight (muscle is heavier than fat). His BMI percentage had gone up greatly.

"No," Jolly Mike replied. "They've just started breakfast."

"It took you _that long_ to cook?" she demanded.

"I woke up late," Mike stated. "It's not my fault."

"Dear Lord," Lena muttered.

Lena and Mike had two young children. Thomas was seven years old, with thick, dark brown hair and a round face. Justin was three, and was much thinner and lighter than Thomas. He had dark hair, which was nothing but a fuzz on his face. He looked a lot more like Lena, but Thomas looked like neither of them.

The two kids were currently eating breakfast with the rest of the young kids (Mike and Lena tended to treat their children the same as the rest of the orphans, to prevent the orphans from feeling second-class). There were about twelve orphans, all of them pulled off the streets by Mike and Lena, and taken to the orphanage. The kids would work together to deal with dishes, tend the garden, and take care of other odd jobs. Lena and Mike were their mother and father, and they did their best to take care of them.

* * *

Ben and Marika led a much different life than the other two TAAO couples. There were two full families with many children, who lived outside town. But Ben and Marika were different.

Ben played major league football with the Uptown Vultures. The career he had chosen devoured his life, as he spent almost every day practicing and playing the game he loved. He was widely considered to be the best football player society had ever known, merely due to his Silencer enhancements (at max speed, Ben could hit about seventy miles per hour, but he usually limited it to about thirty. He usually jogged on offense).

Marika worked at the Center for Zionite Scientific Research as a leading mathematician and physicist. She was able to spend more time at home than Ben (generally, the two were only able to see each other in the evenings), and thus, she could look after their son James Edward. However, she still wasn't home as often as she needed to be to watch the young kid, so he spent a lot of time at the Walker Homestead.

At this moment, Marika was running an analyzation of a singularity that had been observed in a distant corner of the Milky Way. Much research had been done on black holes at the lab, and Marika, as a physicist, was one of the most important figures in the studies.

"Dr. Parish, what do you make of it's size?" asked Professor Karner.

"It's relatively large, probably generated from the collapse of a Red Giant," Marika replied. "The collapse of a Red Giant could generate an extremely large gravitational field." she paused for a moment. "That may become a problem for humanity in the far distant future, but it isn't anything anyone in this lab will need to worry about."

"It is something someone will have to worry about eventually," Dr. Vedley stated. Vedley was Marika's rival in the physics department. She wasn't quite as skilled as Marika, so she resulted to unconventional tactics to gain an upper hand.

"We should analyze the rate at which it can draw things in," Karner suggested. "Get out a pen and start taking notes."

Meanwhile, Ben was on the field, showing his coach true skill on the field.

They were doing a track course to improve speed and agility (Ben's team was full of a bunch of oafs who were excellent and tackling, but terrible at reaching their opponents). Ben could move at triple the speed and jump far higher than anyone else. He had completed six laps by the time everyone else finished one.

"Excellent job, Parish!" the coach exclaimed. "I'm not sure how you are so talented, but I'm sure it's not from illegal drugs and/or enhancements!"

"Definitely not, coach!" Ben replied.

Now, the team QB had finished his second lap (he was the second-fasted member of the team. He was rarely sacked).

"Oh, c'mon!" the coach (who was pretty old) said. "How come you guys can only complete one set of hurdles in the time it takes Parish to complete six?"

"I'm sorry, we're just all worthless at football!" the QB replied.

"You run like you've just finished time at a post-drug rehab," the coach muttered, walking away. Ben laughed quietly to himself.

Then, he thought of the family he was neglecting. By spending every day at the field, he was letting down two other people he was supposed to protect and look after. But he dismissed that thought: he was making money doing this, and that was what the family needed most.

He took off to finish his seventh lap, the rest of the team huffing and puffing behind him.

* * *

Caleb and Elmer had gone into business together. Purchasing a penthouse in the city center with soldier's pay, they proceeded to found an extremely famous and popular pizza place. Gates and Coine's Legendary Pizza Parlour became the most popular restaurant in Zion due to it's commitment to real food and quality service (and it's top-of-the-line arcade). Distantly, the two friends could see the place from their window.

At this point, Elmer was sitting on his couch, sipping on a homemade protein smoothie. Over the years, he had changed. His face was nothing like it was in the Matrix: his scars had disappeared, and he had grown a well-trimmed beard. His black hair was currently longer than normal, and quite untidy (polar opposite of his beard). He was already wearing his work clothes: a denim jacket over a white shirt, and blue jeans.

Caleb's cat, Louis, was curled up next to Elmer, sleeping, when Caleb walked into the room.

Caleb also had similar garb and appearance suggested relation to Elmer, but upon closer reflection, you would see many differences between the two. Caleb was much more muscular and refined, his hair was tidier, and he was a couple inches taller. His eyes were also a bright, shocking blue, while Elmer's were coal black. Elmer looked more ragged, more tested, and much, much more weary. Battle trauma had finally caught up with him.

"Ready for work?" Caleb asked, walking to grab his smoothie.

Elmer took a moment to formulate his reply.

"I will be shortly," he replied, dragging a comb through his hair (to no avail).

"I can head up earlier, if you want me to," Caleb told him. "I'll open up the place, and you can come in later."

"That's a good idea, Caleb," Elmer replied. "I'm not feeling well at all at the moment. I'll be in in a couple hours at the latest."

"Great," Caleb said. "I'll meet you down there."

Caleb and Elmer both knew the same thing: Elmer wasn't finished recovering from the kind of mental scarring he had gone through, and he probably never would. Caleb was a good friend, so he made allowances, and pretended that he wasn't trying to. And Elmer tried to hide his weakness, making excuses for his shabbiness and depression. So Caleb ran the business, and Elmer was there to back him up (sometimes).

Caleb finished his smoothing in a couple seconds, and got into the elevator. Elmer was left in the living room, slowly draining everything that was left in his class.

 _Almost empty, or barely full?_ He thought to himself.

Someday, he would have to figure this out. Someday, he would have to rise above his insecurities. But for now, he just needed to recover.

 **TAAO PART III COMING SOON!**


End file.
